Global pet care is entering the 2025 holiday period on a cautiously optimistic footing, with growth still positive but more selective and premium driven.

Industry trackers report that pet care remains one of the more resilient consumer staples categories, helping insulate retailers from broader sector headwinds, even as other grocery lines soften.14 In the Gulf, NielsenIQ’s latest Q3 2025 read shows pet care leading grocery value growth in the UAE and Saudi Arabia at roughly plus 13 percent year on year, far ahead of total grocery.10 This underscores a shift toward higher priced, higher value products rather than pure volume expansion.

On the supply and innovation side, several signals from the past few days point to a more disciplined market. A recent poll of global pet food manufacturers shows that nearly two thirds have delayed or paused new product development amid cost inflation and margin pressure, slowing the pace of launches compared with the post pandemic boom period.7 This contrasts with 2021 to 2023, when aggressive innovation cycles and rapid SKU proliferation were the norm.

Yet premium subsegments continue to attract investment. Forecasts updated this week again highlight strong double digit growth in pet food packaging as brands upgrade to more sustainable, convenience oriented formats, with the market expected to reach just over seven point one billion US dollars by 2032.8 Organic and natural pet food remain structural growth engines, with 2025 market baselines in the United States at about 0.9 billion dollars and in Japan at about 125.5 million dollars, both projected to grow steadily over the next decade as owners demand cleaner labels and eco friendly sourcing.2 3

Larger animal health and pet care groups are responding by doubling down on R and D and capacity. At its 2025 investor day, Elanco emphasized new pipelines and manufacturing investments aimed at longer, healthier pet lifespans, signaling confidence in long term demand despite current cost pressures.9 Retailers like Chewy are expected to lean into autoship, pharmacy, and wellness services to support growth and loyalty into year end.11

Compared with earlier reporting in 2024, when price increases were broad based and innovation was more aggressive, the current landscape is defined by selective premiumization, tighter innovation filters, and targeted investment in health, sustainability, and digital convenience rather than sheer product volume.

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This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI