Beetroot for Dogs: What It Does, and Why It Is in Ours

Written by Lucy Fitzgerald, Founder, WYLDR. Reviewed by Katie McCaul, RNutr, The Pet Diet.

The short answer: Beetroot is a root vegetable that is safe for most dogs in small amounts. It provides some dietary fibre and the natural pigments that give it its deep red colour. In WYLDR's Every Dog Every Day it is included mainly to give the bite a natural colour, with a small amount of fibre alongside. It can temporarily turn urine or stools pink, which is harmless.

Most ingredient pages exist to talk an ingredient up. This one is a bit different, because we have added beetroot to our recipe and we would rather tell you plainly why it is there than dress it up as something it is not.

What beetroot is

In short: A root vegetable, mostly water and carbohydrate, with dietary fibre and the pigments that give it its colour.

Beetroot is the swollen root of the beet plant. Nutritionally it is largely water and carbohydrate, with a useful amount of dietary fibre and small amounts of various vitamins and minerals. Its most obvious characteristic is the colour, which comes from a group of natural pigments called betalains.

In pet food it usually appears as a dried powder rather than as fresh beetroot, which concentrates it and makes it easy to include at a measured level.

Is beetroot safe for dogs?

In short: Yes, for most dogs, in modest amounts and prepared plainly. It is not toxic to dogs.

Beetroot is not on the list of foods that are dangerous to dogs. Fed plainly and in sensible amounts, it is a perfectly ordinary vegetable for a dog to eat.

The usual conditions apply. Fresh beetroot should be plain, with nothing added, and never the pickled sort, which is full of vinegar and salt. Large amounts of any fibrous vegetable can cause loose stools or wind, so modest is the word. And as with anything new, introduce it gradually.

The pink surprise

In short: Beetroot can turn urine or stools pink or red for a day or two. It is harmless, but it is alarming if you are not expecting it.

This deserves its own heading because of how many owners have had a genuine fright. The pigments in beetroot can pass through and colour urine or stools a pink or reddish shade. It is temporary and it is not blood.

The important caveat is the obvious one: if your dog has not eaten beetroot and you see red in their urine or stools, that is a reason to call your vet, not something to explain away.

The oxalate point

In short: Beetroot contains oxalate, as many plant foods do. For most dogs that is not something to think about, but it is worth raising with your vet if your dog has a history of calcium oxalate stones.

Oxalate is a naturally occurring compound found in a wide range of plant foods. It comes up in the context of calcium oxalate urinary stones, which some dogs are prone to.

Two things are worth knowing before this worries anyone unnecessarily. The first is that most of the oxalate in a dog's body is not from food at all: according to the UC Davis Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital, much of it is produced internally from the normal processing of other nutrients. The second is that where diet does matter for stone-forming dogs, water intake is the bigger lever. UC Davis describes increasing water consumption as vital, and dietary oxalate restriction as one part of a wider picture rather than the whole of it.

It is also worth saying that the amount of beetroot in a single bite of a daily supplement is very small.

So for the vast majority of dogs eating normal amounts of ordinary food, this is not a reason to avoid beetroot. Where it is worth mentioning is for dogs with a history of calcium oxalate stones, or dogs on a veterinary diet formulated around that. If that is your dog, oxalate-containing foods are something to raise with your vet rather than decide on from a blog.

So why is it in WYLDR?

In short: Mainly for natural colour, with a little fibre alongside. We would rather use a vegetable than a colouring, and we would rather tell you that than invent a benefit.

Here is the honest version. When we looked at our freeze-dried bite, it was, to put it kindly, beige. We wanted it to look like something you would want to give your dog, and we had two options: a colouring, or a food.

We chose a food. Beetroot brings a natural depth of colour, and it brings a small amount of dietary fibre with it, which sits comfortably alongside the fibre already in the recipe from chicory root.

What we are not going to do is tell you beetroot is in there for its antioxidant properties, or for stamina, or for any of the other things beetroot gets marketed for. It is in there for colour, from a vegetable rather than an additive, and it earns its place on that basis. Where an ingredient in our recipe does have evidence behind it, we say so, as we do for chicory root. Beetroot does not, so we have not.

Frequently asked questions

Can dogs eat beetroot?
Yes, most dogs can eat plain beetroot in modest amounts. It is not toxic. Avoid pickled beetroot, which contains vinegar and salt, and introduce it gradually like any new food.

Is beetroot good for dogs?
It is a source of dietary fibre and it is not harmful in sensible amounts, but we would not describe it as a functional ingredient. In our recipe it is there mainly for natural colour.

Why has my dog's wee gone pink after eating beetroot?
The natural pigments in beetroot can colour urine and stools for a day or two. It is harmless and temporary. If you see red and your dog has not eaten beetroot, speak to your vet.

How much beetroot can a dog have?
A small amount. Beetroot is fibrous, and large quantities of any fibrous vegetable can cause wind or loose stools. In a formulated product it is included at a measured level.

Should any dogs avoid beetroot?
Dogs with a history of calcium oxalate urinary stones, or on a veterinary diet related to that, should have oxalate-containing foods discussed with their vet.

Why is beetroot in WYLDR?
Mainly for natural colour, with a small amount of dietary fibre alongside. We would rather use a vegetable than an added colouring, and we would rather say so plainly than claim a benefit we cannot stand behind.

Sources

• UC Davis Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital, Nutritional Management of Uroliths (endogenous versus dietary oxalate; water intake as the primary preventative measure).
• Today's Veterinary Practice, Understanding and Addressing Canine Calcium Oxalate Urolithiasis.
• USDA FoodData Central, Beets, raw (composition).