Powdered Cellulose

In hairball foods, powdered cellulose helps swallowed hair pass through the gut.

Powdered cellulose is purified plant fiber, usually made from wood pulp, that cats cannot digest. AAFCO lists powdered cellulose among the pet food ingredients that often supply dietary fiber. It has no nutritional value of its own, and very large amounts can reduce how well other nutrients are absorbed. For a cat with a digestive or other medical condition, ask your veterinarian.

Source: aafco.org

Powdered cellulose is used to add fiber without calories. In weight-control foods it makes a portion more filling, and in hairball foods it helps swallowed hair move through the gut. In an ordinary food, if it appears near the top of the ingredient list, it mainly adds bulk. It is usually listed lower down, in smaller amounts.

Powdered cellulose is usually made from wood pulp, but it is not sawdust. Manufacturers process the pulp to purify the cellulose, the structural fiber found in all plant cell walls, and then dry and mill it into a fine white powder. Chemically it is the same cellulose found in grasses and vegetables. Cats cannot digest it, so it passes through as fiber.

Almost none. Cats lack the enzymes to break down cellulose, and the bacteria in a cat's gut ferment very little of it. That is why it is used to lower the calorie density of weight-control foods. Tufts veterinary nutritionists note that cellulose is the most common type of insoluble fiber in pet foods and that insoluble fibers pass through virtually unchanged.

Source: sites.tufts.edu

Pettings gives powdered cellulose 2 out of 5 and lists it as a processed fiber. It appears on 22 of the 149 dry cat foods we list. It is pure indigestible fiber with no nutritional value, usually added for hairball or weight control. Each food's page shows how it scores overall.