The US pet industry has long been overtly canine-centric, and this bias has not been lost on cat owners eager for additional product and service options. Marketers and retailers are realizing the drawback to this approach as the recent decline in the dog population has put a damper on sales. The greatest overarching opportunity for cat market advancement is therefore also the most obvious one: focus on felines. This Packaged Facts report, Cats: US Pet Market Trends and Opportunities, 2nd Edition, does just that, completely updated for the 2024 pet market environment, exploring trends and opportunities with a spotlight on cats, covering all four sectors of the industry—pet food, non-food pet supplies, veterinary services, and non-medical services. The report covers trends in product and service innovation, retailing, industry investment, and technology, along with a detailed look at cat ownership and cat owner demographics.
Scope of Report
This report examines growth and development opportunities in pet market products and services for cats, covering all four sectors of the U.S. pet industry—pet food, non-food pet supplies, the veterinary sector, and non-medical services. Topics addressed include product and service innovation, industry investment, technology, retailing, and cat ownership and cat owner demographics.
Report Methodology
The information contained in this report was obtained from primary and secondary research. Our primary research consumer analysis draws mainly on two sources:
Packaged Facts’ Surveys of Pet Owners, primarily the one conducted in January 2024. This survey has a sample of 1,600 US respondents aged 18 or over who, in aggregate, are representative of the primary demographic measures of the US Census Bureau including gender, age bracket, race/ethnicity, geographic region, household income bracket, and presence of children in the household.
MRI-Simmons booklet-based consumer surveys of a large and random sample of approximately 50,000 consumers through Winter 2023, who in aggregate represent a statistically accurate cross-section of the US population. Note that MRI-Simmons releases correspond to an approximately 12- to 14-month roll-up of survey fielding ending in the quarter indicated; the respondents and results for adjacent surveys are therefore partially overlapping, rather than mutually exclusive.
Our primary research also includes interviews with pet market experts and participation in pet industry events like the American Pet Products Association’s Global Pet Expo and Petfood Industry/Watt Publishing’s Petfood Forums. The analysis also reflects on-site examination of retail and service provider venues and online canvassing.
Secondary research includes information- and data-gathering from consumer business and trade publications, including Pet Age, Pet Business, Pet Product News International, and Petfood Industry; company profiles in trade and consumer publications; annual reports of companies in the pet market; and information culled from Packaged Facts’ extensive pet market research database and report collection. Our estimates of market size and company performance are based on reported revenues of pet product manufacturers, retailers, and pet services providers; background sales data from syndicated sales-tracking sources; surveys of independent and chain pet store retailers; government data including US Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Surveys; and figures from other market research sources.
Cats in Context
Companionship, Love Top Reasons for Pet Ownership
For most cat owners, companionship and love of their respective type of pet are the top motivations for having pets. As shown by Packaged Facts’ January 2024 Survey of Pet Owners, 59% of cat owners prize their pets for companionship.
Cats Considered Easier to Care for Than Dogs
Packaged Facts survey results from May 2024 show that the most common reason for pet owners to have cats and not dogs is that cats are easier to care for than dogs.
Time, Cost Tops Reasons for Not Having Pets
For households without any pets, the time it takes to care for them and the cost of paying for their medical care and food are the top reasons they remain pet-less.
Cats Owners Struggle With Rising Prices
Pet owners have been battling rising prices for pet products and services over the past several years, with dog ownership being a direct casualty of the costs of keeping pets. Cat owners have, however, been negatively impacted by the same economic challenges as dog owners, with many struggling to remain financially afloat.
Cat Owners Concerned About Food, Pet Food Prices
As an indication of where pet owners feel the economic crunch, Packaged Facts survey results show that most cat owners indicated they were concerned about rising prices for both human and pet food.
Challenges to Pet Ownership
When asked about the “significant challenges” they have faced regarding pet ownership, owners of both cats and dogs were most likely to point to the high cost of pet food.
Cats Central to Home Life
Although dogs are known as “man’s best friend”, cat owners have just as much affection for their furry companions.
Cats as Personal Healthcare
In addition to being at the center of home life, a large majority of US cat owners believe that their feline friends have beneficial impacts on their physical and emotional health. In the survey, 87% of cat owners, compared with 91% of dog owners, agreed that their pets make a positive impact on their mental health.
Cat Opportunities Getting More Spotlight
To the credit of many pet industry participants, the treatment of cats as an afterthought is beginning to change as retailers, marketers, product developers, and investors pay noticeably more attention to cats.