Cat owners are spending more and boosting pet retailers

Cat owners are spending on their feline friends in a bright spot for pet food makers and sellers.

Though consumers are watching their wallets as the prices of fuel and groceries rise, sales for cat food and other cat-related products are climbing, according to sellers of those products. General Mills , Chewy and Petco Health and Wellness Co. all called out the segment as a strength in their businesses during their most recent quarterly earnings calls.

Sales of dog products, on the other hand, continue to soften. The rise in sales of cat items comes as the American Pet Products Association found a 5% increase in cat ownership in 2025, with an estimated 53 million households having cats. The modest rise last year came after cat ownership surged 23% in 2024.

Factors driving the increase in cat ownership could include the ease and affordability of care relative to dogs, along with their ability to live in smaller enclosed spaces like apartments, according to executives in the space.

General Mills on Wednesday reported double-digit percentage growth in cat food sales, which includes the brand Tiki Cat. At the same time, sales of dog food fell by a high-single-digit percentage. Those contrasting trends led in part to General Mills' North American pet segment posting net sales that were roughly in line with the year-ago period.

CEO Jeff Harmening said on an earnings call on Wednesday that the sales trend was related to the fact that Americans are adopting more cats and fewer dogs.

Chief Operating Officer Dana McNabb said, however, that struggles in the company's dog food business could not be blamed entirely on trends in pet ownership.

"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. "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."