Packaged Facts: In U.S. Pet Market, Cats are Clawing for More Attention

Most industry marketing and production for pet food, pet products, and pet services has traditionally gone to the dogs, but cat owners want to see that change

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Packaged Facts

Jan 12, 2021, 11:12 ET

ROCKVILLE, Md., Jan. 12, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- It's time to focus on the felines. Historically speaking, the U.S. pet industry has been overtly canine-centric, and not without justification. One reason is that dog ownership rates have been increasing while cat ownership rates have remained flat. Another reason is that dogs tend to be way more lucrative in terms of products and services.

"Traditionally and still too often, pet product manufacturers, retailers, and marketers tend to give cats short shrift, including in the minds of cat owners," says David Sprinkle, research director for market research firm Packaged Facts, which recently published the report Durable Dog and Cat Petcare Products, 3rd Edition.

In Packaged Facts' Survey of Pet Owners, cat owners were asked whether they perceive that cats are "sometimes treated as second-class" compared to dogs by various types of players in the pet industry. Across the board to varying degrees, the answer is "yes," including for general merchandise stores that sell pet products (with 51% of cat owners agreeing strongly or somewhat that cats sometimes get second-class treatment), companies that make pet food/treats (45%), companies that make non-food products (45%), pet specialty stores (44%), and veterinarians (41%).

Based on an informal survey of new product introductions and email promotions over the past few months, this appears to be changing. Last year, many of the new products introduced at Global Pet Expo 2020 were cat-focused, including New Product Showcase winners Moody Pet's Fling-Ama-String and Four Paws' Kitty Kat Circus, and during 2020 Petco unleashed a slew of promotional emails with feline-focused headlines including "You had me at Meow," "Kitty 101," and "Kitty's first shopping list." More and better durable products for cats (and more marketing attention) stand to encourage cat owners to invest more heavily in the health and happiness of their fur children and—most important of all—attract more Americans into the feline fold.

About the Report

Durable Dog and Cat Petcare Products, 3rd Edition is now on sale. The report can be purchased at: https://www.packagedfacts.com/Durable-Dog-Cat-Petcare-Products-Edition-13690339/.

Please contact Packaged Facts' Communications Manager Daniel Granderson at [email protected] to request the report executive summary.

About Packaged Facts

Packaged Facts, a division of MarketResearch.com, publishes market intelligence on a wide range of consumer market topics, including consumer demographics and shopper insights, consumer financial products and services, consumer goods and retailing, and pet products and services. Packaged Facts also offers a full range of custom research services. Reports can be purchased at our company website and are also available through MarketResearch.com.

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