Soybean Hulls

Soybean hulls are the thin outer skins removed when soybeans are processed. They are mostly fiber and carry much less protein than soybean meal. The Merck Veterinary Manual states that dogs and cats have no dietary requirement for fiber. Soybean hulls add bulk with little other nutrition. For a cat with a soy allergy or another medical condition, ask your veterinarian.

Source: merckvetmanual.com

Soybean hulls are a low-cost fiber left over from soybean processing. They add bulk and lower the calorie density of a food, which is why they show up in some indoor and weight-control recipes. Cats digest almost none of the fiber. Beyond that bulk, the hulls offer no other nutritional value to the cat.

No. Soybean meal is the protein-heavy part of the bean left after oil extraction. Soybean hulls are the outer skins removed before or during that process, and they are mostly fiber. A food can list both. Pettings scores them the same, 1 out of 5, but for different reasons, since one is a plant protein and the other a fiber filler.

It is the same ingredient milled into smaller particles. Hulls must be ground to blend into kibble dough, so the word ground describes processing and not a different product. Pettings counts soybean hulls and ground soybean hulls together on one page. Either way, the ingredient is the outer skin of the soybean.

Pettings gives soybean hulls 1 out of 5 and lists them as a fiber filler. They appear on 12 of the 149 dry cat foods we list, also as Ground Soybean Hulls. Foods with them average 38 out of 100 on our Ingredients score, compared with 59 for the 137 foods without them, though that average reflects the whole food. Each food's page shows how it scores overall.