Americans adopted millions of dogs during the pandemic, spending over $21 billion on nonmedical pet products last year plus another $28 billion on dog food, according to Euromonitor International.
Speaking at Expo West, Julie Gasper, portfolio manager of companion animals at Cargill, said one theme that became evident during the pandemic is pets mirroring human trends.
“It's really interesting, when I started in the pet industry maybe 10 years ago, as trends would happen in the human world it usually took around five years before they would transfer over to pets. Now that has condensed all the way down and it's almost immediate."
Gasper added that the focus on immune health is no exception. “Our postbiotic and EpiCor Pets use the exact same product that goes into the human supplement. So we've been able to take that, but validate it for pets and be able to use it for pets for some of those same benefits. So immune strength and microbiome is one of those really great things that postbiotics offers humans and also pets.”
Last fall at SupplySide West, AnimalBiome launched DoggyBiome ImmuneShield, a functional treat that contains EpiCor to boost the immune system of dogs, increase gut health and reduce skin issues.
