The next pet growth bets: cats, treats and fresh food

Cat products are attracting investment from pet food manufacturers and retailers. At the same time, industry players are betting on product innovation for dogs, particularly in snacks, treats, functional products and fresh food.

5 companies with significant pet businesses highlighted these trends at the 2026 Barclays Global Consumer Staples Conference in Boston last week.

Nestlé’s sell-out for cat food

Pet care is one of the two best-performing segments at Nestlé, according to Anna Manz, Chief Financial Officer. The CFO said that from Q1 to Q2, the manufacturer improved from 1.2% real internal growth (RIG) to 1.8%. Pet and coffee have even surpassed that number, recording RIG of over 2% in the second quarter.

The CFO explained that the sell-out performance – meaning products actually purchased by final consumers – was strong in the category and is poised to continue, especially in cat food.

“The lovely thing about cats is they’re super picky eaters. So if you give them better food, they won’t go back. It gives the opportunity for the consumer to trade up. And that’s what you’re seeing actually driving the wet cat category now,” Manz explained during the event.

To respond to this trend, the company is “bringing all of our flavors” into the category, expanding the options for cat owners. “That’s what’s driving it,” the CFO stated. Therapeutic pet diets are also among the fastest-growing categories, together with cold and ready-to-drink coffee. 

Nestlé’s pet care sales increased marginally by 0.3% in Q2 to CHF 4.5 billion ($5.6B/€4.9B). Organic growth also slightly improved to 2.8%, comprising RIG of 2% and pricing growth of 0.8%.

General Mills relies on cat food and treats

Chief Operating Officer Dana McNabb said the company believes “growth will be in the high single digits” for its pet segment, again boosted by the cat category.

“We’re really encouraged by our cat feeding business. We are seeing mid-single-digit growth, a really strong performance behind Tiki Cat and our core brands,” McNabb declared, also saying that General Mills has plans to expand Tiki Cat’s distribution across channels.

But some parts of the dog category are also performing positively, such as the treats business, which returned to growth, according to the COO, and Blue Buffalo’s Life Protection Formula (LPF) line, while other labels such as Wilderness (high-protein) are still struggling.

To drive growth in the category, McNabb says the company is investing in innovation, renovation and better marketing. “You’ll see us accelerate in cat, continue to accelerate in treats. We will continue to have strength in LPF and stabilize wellness, although it will be a bit of time, I’d say, 18 months to 2 years before we’re back to growth with that business.”

Fresh dog food promise

In July 2025, General Mills launched Love Made Fresh, a brand of fresh dog food. In the first year, it saw 80% retail sales growth but also faced fulfillment challenges.

“What we didn’t get right and what we’ve learned is, first, the importance of having the stand-up resealable pouch. We did not have that ready to launch, but it would have been better to have all 3 formats ready to go at the same time,” the COO said.

According to McNabb, this pouch format is what consumers associate with the category, and it also gives the brand more blocking power in the cooler (brand presence to grab customers’ attention). “We also learned that you need to have your retail representatives in the stores more often to make sure the coolers are staying full,” she added.

With the format launched and representatives in the field, the brand has seen a 30% increase in the first quarter of this year, according to the COO. Love Made Fresh is now present in about 6,000 coolers.

Following its participation at the conference, General Mills reaffirmed its full-year financial outlook for fiscal year 2027, with organic net sales expected to range from a 1.5% decline to a 0.5% increase and adjusted operating profit forecast to decline by between 8% and 13%. The company will release first-quarter FY2027 results on 23 September. 

J.M. Smucker

The US-based manufacturer’s CEO, Mark Smucker, highlighted the strategy used to keep its pet business running.

“For the Milk-Bone brand [of hard, bone-shaped dog biscuits and treats], we are delivering products and experiences that include communication of quality, nutrition and functional benefits, along with limited-time offerings tied to seasonal and special occasions,” Smucker said.

This strategy helped Milk-Bone Soft & Chewy dog treats deliver strong results throughout the fiscal year. “Building on that success, we expanded the platform with Milk-Bone Peanut Buttery Cups earlier this year and see continued opportunity to bring new experiences and premium offerings to the category.”

The cat brand Meow Mix is also being pushed by new lines, such as Meow Mix Gravy Bursts, expanded in early 2026 with a new salmon flavor that is “exceeding our expectations,” the CEO pointed out. The company plans to expand the brand’s presence into other segments of the cat category, including wet food and treats.

Tractor Supply’s store revolution

Home improvement and pet products retailer Tractor Supply continues to adjust store square footage and space allocation to accommodate growing pet categories.

“We do this routinely every 6 months to a year,” said President and CEO Hal Lawton, who had already said that the company was resetting 70% of its dog areas in stores in July during the 2026 Baird Global Consumer Conference.

“We did a kind of a larger swing this summer than our normal. But we did things like add eight feet of space to the cat category, really pushing in more treats, accessories, wet food,” the executive added. “That space came out of dog hard lines.”

Even though the shift creates more opportunities for cat products, dog owners make up the majority of the brand’s customers. In this segment, the retailer allocated more space to big bag sizes inside of core dog food, switching packs from 40 pounds to 50 pounds. 

The new dog aisles also stock more air-dried and freeze-dried snacks, protein-based offerings, supplements, and health and wellness products.

“We’re very much a wholesale, warehouse kind of model on dog food. When you had inflation occurring over the last several years, we saw pack sizes decrease. That’s not our model. We want larger pack sizes, and we’re seeing the benefit of that as well,” Lawton explained.

Another example of efforts to elevate the category is that the company is considering increasing the number of stores equipped with refrigerators for fresh food, beyond its initial target of 700 by the end of the year.

Subscription and services help

Tractor Supply’s subscription business will total $200 million (€172M) this year, according to Lawton, with the pet category accounting for the “vast majority” of that revenue. “It’s growing triple digits for us, so we will continue to lean into that,” the executive said.

The category is also supported by the services business, with $300 million (€258M) in revenue from the combination of the acquired online pet pharmacy Allivet and mobile veterinary care provider VIP Petcare. 

“You’ll hear more from us on how we’re going to take those two businesses and combine them with the subscription plays we have and our in-store experience, and really drive that pet ecosystem, and that’s a huge opportunity for us as we look ahead,” the CEO concluded. 

Central Garden & Pet

The American manufacturer acquired an 80% stake in the German pet supply manufacturer TRIXIE in July, attracted by its portfolio, more than 90% of which consists of branded products, as well as its 20%-25% share of cat products. “This is well beyond what we have in pets in the US and a huge lever for us,” said CFO Brad Smith.

Like the other players, the company wants to grow its cat portfolio through acquisitions, international expansion, product innovation and its supplements offering. Apart from cat, the company expects growth in the small dog, freshwater fish, pet bird and reptile categories for 2027.

“Reptiles, which have always been kind of an edgy sort of pet, are really appealing to younger kids, and there is an emerging school of thought that this actually may be taking over as a child’s first pet,” Smith said. “We will see how that plays out, but that is kind of a new trend that we are starting to see.”

More European deals?

During another conference in August, CEO Niko Lahanas said TRIXIE could become a platform for bolt-on acquisitions for other companies in Europe as the company lands on the continent.

“The European market is very interesting to us, attractive in terms of the number of quality assets that are either for sale or coming to market in the near future. The multiples are slightly lower than what we’re seeing in the US, so it’s definitely a beachhead [secure initial position] for further M&A,” Smith explained.

The manufacturer is increasing online sales through partnerships with e-commerce and marketplace platforms, with digital revenue reaching 26% of pet sales. Examples of strong performance include record sales on Amazon Prime Day in June, along with growth on Chewy and at Walmart. 

However, the CFO points to the pressure on independent pet specialty retail as a challenge to the outlook.