The market research firm’s November/December 2020 Survey of Pet Owners revealed that 41% of pet owners are paying closer attention to their pets’ health and wellness because of COVID-19, with 14% changing the health care products they buy their pets.
And this has resulted in sales of pet supplements increasing 21% in 2020 to reach nearly $800 million. US retail sales of pet supplements are predicted to exceed $1 billion by 2025.
“Interest in pet supplements has risen across the board, but condition-specific formulations directly related to COVID-19 concerns, such as those boosting the immune system and offering stress-reducing or anxiety-reducing benefits, have seen demand soar,” said David Sprinkle, research director for Packaged Facts.
NASC President: People are spending more time with their animals, and they’re more attuned to their health
The report’s findings echo comments made by Bill Bookout, president of the National Animal Supplement Council (NASC), last month. Speaking to NutraIngredients-USA, Bookout said: “I think the unanticipated consequence – in a positive direction for supplements on the animal side – of [the pandemic] seems to have caused the market to increase and expand, and it appears that it is sustainable.
“I think that people are spending more time at home, they’re spending more time with their animals, they’re attuned more closely to their health and their behavior, and at the end of the day people think of companion animals as extended family members so they want to do the best for them as they do for themselves,” added Bookout.
Immunity and stress management
According to the Packaged Facts report, stress and anxiety management was one of the big winners in the pet supplement category in 2020, with changing habits and schedules, or an influx of new pets into households taking time to acclimate to their new environments.
Packaged Facts cites CBD as a key ingredient in pet supplements over the past year, with data showing that 39% of dog parents and 39% of cat parents like the idea of CBD supplements for their pets. This increases beyond 70% if the pet parent is already taking CBD in their own supplementation.
According to the report, "Packaged Facts places sales of pet CBD products at just under $100 million in 2020, about triple the 2019 sales level, which was itself triple that of 2018."
Demand for immune support supplements has also increased on the pet side, with 26% of supplement purchasers buying products for immune health in the past 12 months. NASC’s Bookout concurred: “I think perception is reality,” he said. “We’re just more in tune with ‘immune health is important for us’, whether it’s COVID or any other declining process that affects a human or animal with age, and we just want to do the same thing for our pets as we do for ourselves.”