The U.S. pet product market spans food, treats, supplies, medicines, veterinary products, toys, accessories, and services. APPA reported $158 billion in U.S. pet industry expenditures for 2025 and projected $165 billion for 2026. The figures below show where that spending sits, which households drive demand, and how products reach pet owners.
Contents
- Market size and spending categories
- Pet ownership and household demand
- How owners are spending
- Online retail and Chewy’s scale
- Retailers, veterinary networks, and distribution
- Manufacturers and brand reach
- What the numbers mean for shoppers
Market size and spending categories
APPA’s 2025 and 2026 industry figures provide the broadest view of the U.S. market. The 2025 total was $158 billion, while the 2026 figure was a projection of $165 billion. These are industry-wide amounts, not a product-only retail total.
For 2024, APPA estimated $68.3 billion in pet food and treats, $34.4 billion in supplies, live animals, and over-the-counter medicine, $41.0 billion in veterinary care and product sales, and $14.3 billion in other services. This breakdown places food and treats as the largest named spending category, followed by veterinary care and product sales.
APPA’s 2026 projections were $69.7 billion for food and treats, $35.6 billion for supplies, live animals, and OTC medicine, $42.4 billion for veterinary care and product sales, and $14.9 billion for other services.
| APPA category | 2024 estimate | 2026 projection |
|---|---|---|
| Pet food and treats | $68.3 billion | $69.7 billion |
| Supplies, live animals, and OTC medicine | $34.4 billion | $35.6 billion |
| Veterinary care and product sales | $41.0 billion | $42.4 billion |
| Other services | $14.3 billion | $14.9 billion |
The 2024 category figures are estimates, and the 2026 figures are projections. They should not be read as a measured two-year sales series for any individual product type. (APPA Industry Trends and Stats)
Pet ownership and household demand
APPA said 95 million U.S. households owned a pet in 2025, compared with 94 million in 2024. Its 2025 ownership figures included 68 million households with dogs, 49 million with cats, 10 million with freshwater fish, 6 million with birds, 6 million with reptiles, 6 million with small animals, 2 million with horses, and 2 million with saltwater fish. These categories can overlap because one household may own more than one type of pet. (APPA Industry Trends and Stats; APPA 2025 State of the Industry report)
Dog and cat ownership also appeared in percentage and household terms in APPA’s 2026 State of the Industry report. Dog ownership was 53% of U.S. households in 2025, equal to 71 million households, versus 51% in 2024. APPA said dog ownership increased by about 4 million households year over year. Cat ownership reached 39% of households, or 53 million households, and increased 5% year over year.
APPA’s 2025 generational distribution was 30% Millennial, 25% Gen X, 25% Baby Boomer, and 20% Gen Z. The report also recorded especially strong year-over-year increases among Gen X owners: total pet ownership rose 12%, dog ownership rose 12%, cat ownership rose 8%, bird ownership rose 25%, reptile ownership rose 20%, and freshwater fish ownership rose 17%. (APPA 2026 State of the Industry report)
The household counts are useful for understanding the potential customer base, but they do not indicate how frequently each household buys products or how much it spends. Product demand varies by animal type, household needs, and purchase category.
How owners are spending
APPA reported that 22% of pet owners spent less on their pets in 2025, a figure it said was up 10% from 2024. About half of owners reported unchanged pet spending. Together, those measures show that the market’s overall size can coexist with pressure on individual household budgets. They do not provide a complete percentage breakdown of owners who spent more.
Travel-related behavior points to another group of product needs. In APPA’s 2024 Dog and Cat Owner Insight Report, 88% of dog owners and 90% of cat owners said they had traveled with their pets in a car in the past year. The report said 68% of dog owners and 80% of cat owners had traveled with their pets by plane in the past year.
More frequent travel was also reported. Among dog owners, 34% took their dogs on three or more car trips in the last year, up from 26% in 2022, while 22% took their dogs on three or more plane trips, up from 13%. Among cat owners, 30% took cats on three or more car trips, up from 21%, and 22% took cats on three or more plane trips, up from 14%.
APPA also reported that calming product use grew 168% for dogs and 174% for cats since 2018. The report does not establish the total number of products sold in this category, but the growth figures identify calming products as an expanding use case in the supplied survey data. (APPA 2024 Dog and Cat Owner Insight Report)
Online retail and Chewy’s scale
Chewy’s FY2024 10-K described an online channel that has become a large part of U.S. pet product retail. It said online pet product sales rose from 20% of U.S. retail pet product sales in 2018 to an estimated 38% in 2024. Chewy also said more than $37 billion of pet food and treats were sold online in 2024 and that online pet retail grew at a 23% compound annual growth rate from 2018 to 2024.
Chewy reported 3,200 trusted brands and about 130,000 products and service offerings in its assortment. It said its delivery network could serve more than 80% of the U.S. population overnight and almost 100% within two days.
| Chewy FY2024 measure | Reported figure |
|---|---|
| Net sales | $11.861 billion |
| Year-over-year net sales growth | 6.4% |
| Consumables net sales | $8.396 billion |
| Hardgoods net sales | $1.267 billion |
| Other net sales | $2.198 billion |
| Net sales per active customer | $578 |
| Gross profit | $3.5 billion |
Chewy said net sales per active customer reached $578 in fiscal 2024, up $23 year over year. It reported $596.3 million in net cash provided by operating activities, $143.8 million in capital expenditures, and $942.8 million in common stock repurchases. Its ABL credit facility was described as providing up to $800 million in revolving loans and maturing August 27, 2026. (Chewy FY2024 10-K)
Retailers, veterinary networks, and distribution
Petco said it operated 288 full-service veterinary hospitals and 1,400 Vetco clinics on a weekly basis as of February 3, 2024. It also employed more than 26,000 knowledgeable pet care partners in its pet care centers. Its FY2023 10-K described a broad assortment combining national brands, owned brands, exclusive merchandise, pet-care supplies, and companion animals. (Petco FY2023 10-K)
PetMeds reported that more than 1.7 million customers had purchased from it within the last three fiscal years. It attracted approximately 351,000 new customers in fiscal 2025, compared with approximately 457,000 in fiscal 2024. Average order value was approximately $97 in fiscal 2025 and $94 in fiscal 2024. PetMeds said about 50% of its customers were concentrated in eight states: California, Florida, Texas, New York, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia, and Virginia. (PetMeds FY2025 10-K)
These figures describe different kinds of reach. Petco’s measures concern physical care infrastructure and staffing; PetMeds’ measures concern customers, acquisition, order value, and geographic concentration. They are not directly comparable measures of market share.
Manufacturers and brand reach
Central Garden & Pet reported $1.833 billion in pet segment net sales for fiscal 2024. Its pet net sales fell $44.4 million, or 2.4%, and organic pet sales declined $110.8 million excluding sales from the TDBBS acquisition. The company said the decline was driven primarily by lower demand for durable pet products, especially outdoor cushions, aquatics, and pet beds.
Central Garden & Pet also reported that its largest customer represented 17% of net sales and its top five customers represented 54% of net sales in fiscal 2024. The top five customers represented 53% of accounts receivable as of September 28, 2024, while sales to its five largest suppliers represented 7% of cost of goods sold. (Central Garden & Pet FY2024 10-K)
BARK said its products were sold in more than 40,000 retail doors nationwide. Its retail commerce segment represented 11.0% of total revenue in fiscal 2024, while new treats were in more than 2,400 Target and PetSmart doors nationwide. BARK reported $38 million of cross-sell revenue and $284.7 million of toys and accessories revenue in fiscal 2024. (BARK FY2024 10-K)
Freshpet said it was in approximately 28,141 retail stores as of December 31, 2024. Approximately 22% of those store locations had second and third Freshpet Fridge placements, and less than 0.5% of its Freshpet Fridge network was out of service for maintenance at any given time. Freshpet also reported $26.497 million in manufacturing and service obligations at that date. (Freshpet FY2024 10-K)
What the numbers mean for shoppers
The statistics describe a market with several distinct layers. APPA’s totals show the scale of spending and the importance of food, treats, supplies, medicine, and veterinary products. Ownership data shows the largest household populations are dog and cat owners, while smaller animal categories still represent millions of households.
The channel figures show why product discovery can look different from one retailer to another. Chewy reported about 130,000 products and service offerings and a 38% estimated online share of U.S. retail pet product sales in 2024. Petco reported a physical network combining stores, veterinary hospitals, weekly clinics, staff, and merchandise. BARK and Freshpet reported broad retail-door and store placement, while PetMeds reported customer and order metrics.
Wag! reported that three customers accounted for approximately 38% of total revenues in 2024. It said its marketplace businesses covered pet services, pet insurance, and pet food and treat advice. That combination illustrates that the pet economy includes advice and services alongside physical products, even when a company’s revenue concentration differs from a product retailer’s. (Wag! FY2024 10-K)
For pet owners comparing products, the most useful distinction is between market-wide estimates, company-reported fiscal-year results, and survey measurements. APPA’s 2026 figures are projections; Chewy, Petco, Central Garden & Pet, BARK, Freshpet, PetMeds, and Wag! figures are company disclosures for their stated fiscal periods; and the travel and calming-product figures come from APPA owner research. Keeping those measurement types separate makes the market statistics easier to interpret.