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Cat owners are opening their wallets for food, treats, bedding and furniture, giving pet product companies a welcome source of growth while consumers contend with rising fuel and grocery prices. General Mills, Chewy and Petco Health and Wellness Co. each highlighted cat products during their latest quarterly earnings calls.

The strength in cat merchandise stands in sharp contrast to the continued weakness in dog products. Companies across the pet business are adjusting their strategies as adoption patterns change and demand increasingly favors feline companions.

The American Pet Products Association found that cat ownership increased 5% in 2025, with an estimated 53 million households owning cats. That modest increase followed a much larger 23% surge in cat ownership during 2024.

Executives in the industry pointed to several factors that could be supporting the change. Cats can be easier and more affordable to care for than dogs, while their ability to live in smaller enclosed spaces makes them suitable for apartments.

General Mills reported double digit percentage growth in cat food sales on Wednesday. That category includes Tiki Cat, while the company’s dog food sales fell by a high single digit percentage during the same period.

Those opposing trends helped leave net sales in the company’s North American pet segment roughly in line with the same period a year earlier. The cat business provided strength, but weaker demand for dog food limited the segment’s overall performance.

General Mills CEO Jeff Harmening said during Wednesday’s earnings call that the sales pattern reflected Americans adopting more cats and fewer dogs. Chief Operating Officer Dana McNabb cautioned that pet ownership trends alone did not explain the company’s difficulties in dog food.

McNabb said General Mills needed to reconsider several parts of its dog food offering. “We really have to relook at the entire proposition of the product, the packaging, the marketing, the communication, we have work to do,” she said.

She also compared the challenge with difficulties previously faced by the company’s cat Tastefuls business. “And we had the same challenge on our cat Tastefuls business a few years ago, and it took us about 18 to 24 months to improve it, and that business is back to growth now.”

Chewy has encountered a similar split between its cat and dog operations. During a Sept. 9 earnings call, CEO Sumit Singh offered a blunt assessment of the company’s pet segments.

“dog seems to be worsening; cat seems to be strengthening,” Singh said. His comment captured the broader divide described by the companies, with cat products gaining momentum while dog products continue to soften.

Petco also reported strong sales of cat products in its second quarter. On a Sept. 2 earnings call, the company highlighted the launch of Candy Shop, its cat treat brand, as part of its push to improve the category.

CEO Joel D. Anderson said new brands helped Petco produce gains across several types of cat merchandise. “In the second quarter, we introduced new high-impact brands that resonate strongly with cat parents, generating nice gains across consumables, supplements, bedding and furniture,” Anderson said.

Anderson said the company’s second quarter growth followed a deliberate effort to improve its cat segment based on industry trends. That focus gave Petco another source of business as the dog category remained weak and dog adoptions declined slightly.

“The dog business is still soft. Adoptions are down slightly,” Anderson said. He argued that the contrast showed why diversification was important for Petco as changing adoption trends affected different parts of the pet market.

“It just shows for you why it’s so important to be diversified. And with us having great trends in cat, really growing companion animal, our services business is growing. We’ve got a lot of diversification to not rely solely on dog,” Anderson said.

Across General Mills, Chewy and Petco, cats have emerged as the stronger side of the pet market. Their latest earnings commentary showed that rising cat ownership is translating into demand for food and other products even as consumers remain cautious with their household budgets.

DISCLAIMER: GoldInvestors.news is not a registered investment, legal or tax advisor or broker/dealer. All investment/financial opinions expressed by GoldInvestors.news are from the personal research and experience of the owner of the site and are intended as educational material. Although best efforts are made to ensure that all information is accurate and up to date, occasionally unintended errors and misprints may occur.