Pet treats sit inside a large and expanding pet-care economy. In 2024, U.S. pet food and treats generated $65.8 billion in sales, while an estimated $8.4 billion came from pet treats alone. The figures below put that market in context, covering household ownership, treat frequency, purchasing channels, subscriptions, functional products, and selected U.K. forecasts.
Table of contents
- The U.S. pet market and treats
- Pet ownership creates the customer base
- How often dogs and cats receive treats
- Functional treats and supplement interest
- Online, omnichannel, and subscription purchasing
- Cat household and product trends
- What the forecasts indicate
The U.S. pet market and treats
The total U.S. pet industry reached $152 billion in sales in 2024, up 3.4% from $147 billion in 2023. Pet food and treats were the largest reported category at $65.8 billion, up 2.2% from the previous year. Pet Food Processing, reporting the 2025 APPA State of the Industry, said this category represented 43.3% of total U.S. pet sales.
That category total includes both complete pet food and treats, so it should not be treated as a standalone treat-market total. McCormick/FONA estimated predicted pet treat sales at $8.4 billion in 2024 in its 2024 Pet Treat Trends Snapshot. Because the two figures come from different reports and category definitions, they are best read separately rather than added together.
The rest of the 2024 U.S. pet-industry mix was also substantial:
- Veterinary care and products reached $39.8 billion, or 26.2% of total pet sales.
- Supplies, live animals, and over-the-counter medicines totaled $33.3 billion, or 21.9%.
- Other services totaled $13 billion, or 8.5%.
The category shares show why treat trends matter to pet-care readers: treats are part of the largest spending segment, alongside everyday nutrition. A change in how owners reward, supplement, or shop for food can therefore occur within a much broader food-and-care market.
Pet ownership creates the customer base
Pet treats depend on the number of households that keep animals and the number of pets within those households. Pet Food Processing’s 2025 APPA State of the Industry reported that 63% of U.S. households owned a pet in 2024. Dogs were present in 44% of households, while cats were present in 30%.
Multi-pet ownership was also common: 63% of pet-owning households owned at least two pets in 2024. That matters for treat purchasing because one household may be buying for several animals, potentially with different sizes, life stages, or flavor preferences.
Ownership differed by generation in the same report. Millennials had the highest listed ownership rate at 32%, followed by Gen Xers at 27% and Baby Boomers at 24%. These figures describe pet ownership, not treat purchasing, but they help identify the size and composition of the audience for pet food and reward products.
The 2025 APPA Dog and Cat Report, as reported by Pet Food Processing, put the number of U.S. cat-owning households at 49 million in 2025, up 23% from 40 million in 2023. The report also recorded nearly a 20% increase in Gen Z cat dads in 2024 and almost a 25% increase in Millennial cat dads in 2024. Those changes point to a shifting cat-owner profile, although they do not measure treat spending directly.
How often dogs and cats receive treats
Daily treat use was high in McCormick/FONA’s 2024 Pet Treat Trends Snapshot. The report found that 63% of U.S. dog owners gave treats every day in 2024. Among U.S. cat owners, 60% gave treats every day.
These are owner percentages, not percentages of all U.S. households. They also do not state how many treats were given per day or whether the treats were used for training, bonding, enrichment, medication, or another purpose. Still, the figures show that frequent treat use is a mainstream behavior among both major companion-animal groups.
The comparison is compactly summarized below.
| Measure | Dogs | Cats | Source and period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Owners giving treats every day | 63% | 60% | McCormick/FONA, 2024 Pet Treat Trends Snapshot |
| Owners purchasing pre- and probiotic diets | 13% | 12% | Pet Food Processing, APPA 2025 Dog and Cat Report, 2024 |
| Owners giving vitamins or supplements | 53% | 34% | Pet Food Processing, APPA 2025 Dog and Cat Report, 2024 |
The daily-treat figures are close, with dog owners 3 percentage points higher than cat owners in the cited survey. The product-use measures show a wider gap for vitamins and supplements: 53% of dog owners gave vitamins or supplements in 2024, compared with 34% of cat owners.
Pre- and probiotic diet purchasing was reported by 13% of dog owners and 12% of cat owners. Pet Food Processing reported that dog-owner purchases of these diets rose 18% from 2023 to 2024, while cat-owner purchases rose 9% over the same period. These changes concern diets rather than treats specifically, so they should not be used as a direct growth rate for the treat market.
Functional treats and supplement interest
Health-related positioning is prominent in the available treat research. McCormick/FONA reported that 69% of U.S. pet owners were interested in treats or toppers with functional health benefits in 2024. Interest is not the same as purchasing, but it indicates a sizeable audience for products presented with a specific wellness purpose.
The U.K. forecasts in ADM’s Pet Treats Trend Report 2023 give a more detailed view of projected absolute gains from 2021 to 2026. Dog functional treats had forecasted absolute gains of $238.5 million, while cat functional treats had forecasted gains of $59.3 million. Dog supplements had forecasted gains of $39.2 million, and cat supplements had forecasted gains of $13.5 million.
These are forecasts for the U.K., not observed U.S. sales. They also cover a forecast interval from 2021 to 2026, so they should be labeled as projected gains rather than confirmed results. Within that forecast, dog functional treats had the largest listed absolute gain, followed by cat functional treats, dog supplements, and cat supplements.
The distinction between functional treats and supplements is useful. A functional treat can combine reward behavior with a stated benefit, while a supplement is a different product category. The available figures support discussion of both, but they do not establish that one category replaces the other or that every functional claim produces the same purchasing response.
Online, omnichannel, and subscription purchasing
Pet owners used several purchasing routes in the recent APPA figures. Pet Food Processing’s report on the APPA 2026 State of the Industry said that, in 2025, 83% of online pet purchases were for pet food, 80% were for pet treats, and 55% were for vitamins or supplements. These percentages describe the composition of online pet purchases in the report; they do not represent the percentage of all pet owners who bought each product online.
Omnichannel purchasing reached 65.2% among pet owners in 2025, up 6.6% from 2024. At the end of 2025, nearly 119 million households were buying pet products, and the average annual value per pet-product buyer reached $773. The same report said omni shoppers accounted for 85% of all dollars spent in pet care in 2025.
Subscription purchasing was also measured in the APPA 2025 State of the Industry figures reported by Pet Food Processing. In 2024, 31% of all pet parents used subscription-based purchasing for pet food, 19% used subscriptions for pet treats, and 16% used them for vitamins and supplements.
Usage varied by generation when the measure covered pet products overall. Subscription-based purchasing was used by 61% of Gen Zers, 59% of Millennials, 47% of Gen Xers, and 39% of Boomers in 2024. Those rates are not treat-specific, whereas the 19% figure is specifically for pet treats.
Together, the figures describe a market where treats are strongly represented online, while recurring purchasing is less common for treats than for food. The distinction matters for interpreting consumer behavior: online purchase share, omnichannel participation, and subscription adoption measure different aspects of shopping.
Cat household and product trends
Cat ownership and product preferences show several notable movements. Single-cat households fell 9% since 2018, according to the APPA 2025 Dog and Cat Report as reported by Pet Food Processing. Households with two cats increased 8% over the same period, while households with three or more cats increased 36%.
Those figures describe household structure rather than the number of treats purchased. However, a rise in multi-cat households can affect how owners think about pack sizes, repeat purchases, flavor variety, and products that can be shared across animals. The supplied figures do not quantify any of those purchasing effects, so they should remain separate from sales claims.
Product formulation signals also appear in the cat-treat data. Approximately 30% of cat-treat products launched in the past two years included a grain-free claim, according to McCormick/FONA’s 2024 Pet Treat Trends Snapshot. The report listed the top five cat-treat protein flavors as chicken, salmon, tuna, liver, and beef.
For non-protein flavors, the same report listed sweet potato, pumpkin, cheese, carrot, and cranberry as the top five. These lists identify leading flavors in the cited report; they do not provide individual market shares or rankings beyond the top-five grouping.
What the forecasts indicate
APPA projections reported by Pet Food Processing in the 2024 State of the Industry forecast total U.S. pet-industry sales of $250 billion by 2030. Within that projection, pet food and treats were expected to reach about $112 billion, veterinary care and products $64 billion, supplies and over-the-counter medicines $54 billion, and other services $21 billion.
| APPA 2030 projection | Projected sales |
|---|---|
| Total U.S. pet industry | $250 billion |
| Pet food and treats | About $112 billion |
| Veterinary care and products | $64 billion |
| Supplies and OTC medicines | $54 billion |
| Other services | $21 billion |
The $112 billion figure is a projection for the combined pet-food-and-treats category, not a forecast for treats alone. It should not be compared directly with the $8.4 billion predicted pet-treat sales estimate without confirming that the reports use matching definitions and methods.
The broader data gives pet owners several practical signals to watch: daily treat use was reported by 63% of U.S. dog owners and 60% of U.S. cat owners in 2024; 69% of U.S. pet owners expressed interest in functional treats or toppers; and 80% of online pet purchases in 2025 were for pet treats in the APPA 2026 State of the Industry reporting. The figures span different surveys, dates, geographies, and measures, so each is most useful when kept with its original source label and measurement period.