Finding the right type of fiber for pet food has been an ongoing pursuit for many in the field. While not an essential nutrient for dogs or cats per se, fiber can provide benefit to their gastrointestinal health and daily elimination products. Further, because fiber is by definition indigestible, it provides a mechanism to lower the caloric density of the diet. Given that over 50% of dogs and cats in the U.S. are overweight or obese, energy dilution with fiber has proven to be a valuable tool to help in weight control. There are other values to adding fiber to the diet beyond these nutritional applications for matters that may seem more esoteric in nature, like assisting cats prone to hairballs in pushing the ingested hair toward elimination in their feces rather than vomiting them in the living space.
