For decades, the pet food industry’s innovation cycle has followed a predictable path. Premiumization trends, spurred by novel ingredients, alternative formulations and new product formats, start in the dog food aisle before eventually trickling down to felines. The rationale was simple arithmetic. Dogs outnumbered cats in US households and generated substantially higher spending across almost every category. But that equation is changing. While dogs still account for the majority of sales, a combination of slowing dog ownership, steady growth in cat-owning households and evolving consumer expectations are forcing manufacturers, marketers and retailers to rethink their long-term priorities.
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