US Pet Market Focus: New Dog and Cat Owners

Report Overview

With a focus on dog or cat owners, this report provides a demographic analysis of “new” pet owners, defined as those who have adopted a new pet within the last 12 months, regardless of the age of the acquired pet.

How We Analyse This Market

In addition to drawing on Packaged Facts’ extensive research and publications on the pet industry, the analysis is based on online Packaged Facts surveys conducted between February 2019 and August 2019, as well as trade and syndicated sources including MRI-Simmons National Consumer Surveys.

As key indicators of new patterns, challenges, and growth opportunities in the pet industry, pet adoption and new pet owner shopping patterns are an important focus of U.S. pet market research.  A somewhat higher percentage of cat owners than of dog owners adopt a new pet each year, reflecting in part the higher prevalence of multiple-cat ownership. Nonetheless, the number of pet-owning households who adopt dogs exceeds the number who adopt cats, given the greater population of dog-owning households.

New dog or cat owners are likely to be filling out their assortment of pet products, and thus generally show higher shopping rates across retail channels than do dog or cat owners overall. Even so, new dog or cat owners are disproportionately likely to shop at pet specialty stores and pet specialty websites. Similarly, new dog or cat owners generally show higher purchasing rates over the last 12 months across durable pet product types, with their elevated spending levels amplified by the purchasing of higher-priced versions of these products.