PHOENIX — The US pet supplement market is gaining momentum as aging pets, growing consumer interest in proactive health and broader retail distribution continue to drive demand. During the National Animal Supplement Council (NASC)’s Annual Conference in May, Lauren DeVestern, managing director at L.E.K. Consulting, outlined how the category’s strong growth, new innovations, and increasing visibility across online and in-store channels are helping position it as one of the fastest-growing segments.
Growth drivers in the pet supplement market
L.E.K. Consulting estimates the US pet wellness market, which includes dog and cat supplements, dental chews, sprays, wipes and topicals, to be worth $5.4 billion to $5.6 billion in 2025, an increase from $2.2 billion to $2.5 billion in 2019, a CAGR of 14% to 15%.
“The pet supplement market has one of healthiest growth rates in pet, it is one of the best growth rates you’re going to get in any subsegment of the pet industry,” said Lauren DeVestern, L.E.K. Consulting.
“The pet supplement space has a ton of momentum and a ton of growth,” DeVestern revealed. “… If you look at the past decade plus, that is one of the healthiest growth rates in pet, it is one of the best growth rates you’re going to get in any subsegment of the pet industry.
“Broadly speaking, over the past couple of years there’s been really high inflation in the industry and not a lot of volume growth,” she added. “For example, if you look at pet food and treats, volume is pretty much flat as growth is all from price. If you look at pet supplies, volume is down significantly with a little bit of rising price. In the pet wellness category, there’s healthy volume growth and price growth, not crazy high inflation that we’re seeing in other categories — that speaks to the health of this category.”
Of this, dog products account for about 75% to 85% and cat products account for the remaining 15% to 25%. Top product need states include:
- Hip and joint health, representing 15% to 25% of the market
- Digestive health, representing 15% to 25% of the market
- Dental care (including dental chews), representing 10% to 20% of the market
- General wellness/multivitamins, representing 10% to 20% of the market
- Skin and coat health, representing 5% to 15% of the market
- Other, which includes heart and liver, anxiety/calming, allergy, immune support, ear/eye health and UTI support products, representing 5% to 15% of the market
Top product formats include soft chews, accounting for majority of the market at 40% to 50%; dental chews, accounting for 10% to 20%; pills, capsules and tablets, accounting for 10% to 15%; oils and liquids, accounting for 7% to 12%; powders, accounting for 5% to 10%; and other formats, which includes balms, ointments, pill pockets, drops, topicals, wipes and sprays, accounting for 5% to 10%.
DeVestern attributed several trends driving this space’s significant growth, including the continued rise of pet populations; the increased number of aging pets; consumers’ increased investment in their pets’ health and growing awareness of the category; continued product innovation and premiumization throughout the category; enhanced access and distribution to pet supplement products; and, of course, price inflation.
Aging pets fuel supplement market
The US pet population continues to stabilize from pre-pandemic levels but remains strong. L.E.K. estimates that 35 million to 40 million pets were adopted during the pandemic (2020 and 2021). Of this, 60% were kittens and puppies, while an additional 20% were 1 to 2 years old. Now, these pets are 4 to 7 years old and L.E.K. estimates that about 70 million to 75 million of these cats and dogs will qualify as seniors by 2029.
“Even though we have a lot of healthy, middle-aged, COVID pets that may not need as many supplements, this industry is certainly growing quite nicely and this is a coming tailwind,” DeVestern shared. “We should see a lot of these pets aging, and we know as pets age, they need more supplements.”
As their pets naturally age, consumers are becoming more aware of the pet wellness category. According to L.E.K.’s analysis, US search volume for pet wellness product search terms significantly rose during the past three years. Searches for:
- “Pet supplements” rose 30% annually
- “Cat supplements” rose 25%
- “Dog supplements” rose 12%
- “Cat probiotic” rose 33%
- “Dog probiotic” rose 12%
For consumers that are already purchasing pet wellness products, 93% reported satisfaction with these products, and more than 90% reported that would “definitely” or “probably” keep purchasing these products over the next three years. Looking at pet owners who currently aren’t purchasing these products, a combined 90% reported they “definitely would,” “probably would,” or “might or might not” purchase these products over the next three years as their pets age.
Expanding retail propels supplement awareness
The pet wellness category is seeing most of its growth online, accounting for 65% to 70% of total spending, with traditional brick-and-mortar channels accounting for 30% to 35%. For reference, the spilt between online and brick-and-mortar for the overall pet products industry is reversed: 65% to 70% spend from brick-and-mortar, and 30% to 35% from online.
Chewy’s SKU count for pet wellness products has risen 7% annually, Amazon’s 12%, and PetSmart.com and Petco.com’s 15%.
“We all like to shop online; we’re shifting more and more of our spend online, but brick-and-mortar can be huge unlock,” DeVestern explained. “A lot of consumers are going to the grocery store, to Walmart, the pet store, all these different channels, and if they see more supplements on the shelf, that’s going to boost awareness and comfort even further.
“The pet specialty retail channel is the most advanced in terms of how they merchandise these types of products,” she added. “Mainstream retail and FDM (Food, Drug and Mass), where a lot of human supplements are sold, are still not seeing much of this but that’s changing.”
Investors weigh opportunities, risks in supplements
With such tailwinds expected for the pet supplement space over the next few years, the space remains highly attractive to investors, though mergers and acquisitions in this space have gradually slowed. M&As in the pet supplements category dropped from 22 in 2021 to seven in 2025.
“Given the size of this category, there’s a healthy number of deals happening every year and definitely still a lot of interest,” DeVestern said.
According to DeVestern, investors have several concerns when it comes to the pet supplement category.
First is a battle between “true brands” versus “marketers.” Many brands have entered this space, and few are investing in clinical studies and research to demonstrate the efficacy of their products to consumers. According to DeVestern, she’s now seeing more and more brands investing in their own research to show that they aren’t just great at marketing their products, but that the products actually work.
“There’s this tension between being really good brand, but having less of a clinical positioning,” DeVestern explained. “There are some brands that have more of that clinical positioning, they’ve done more research, they’ve done more studies, they have more word of mouth recommendation from the veterinary channel. That is a shorter list because that takes a lot of time and money to build, but that is a concern.”
Second is the difficulty of investing in one single brand. Instead of putting all their eggs in one basket, so to speak, investors are going after contract manufacturers of pet supplements. Contract manufacturers offer much more significant exposure to the category.
“Some investors will find investing in third-party contract manufacturing an easier bet,” DeVestern revealed. “They know the category is going to grow and, therefore, they know the contract manufacturer (if they’re a good one) will also grow.”
Last is a growing concern about limited capabilities. Many pet supplement brands outsource manufacturing, formulation and R&D, leaving just a brand’s marketing or story, which some investors don’t see as having enough value. Brands that have vertical integration and manufacturing are much more attractive to investors compared to those just relying on marketing.
Despite these concerns, the pet supplement space is expected to witness continued interest from investors, driven by rising demand for these products; high consumer satisfaction and retention; continued product differentiation, especially with new formats and clinical efficacy; and the diversity that co-manufacturers offer.
