Furry darlings

An example calculation: an adult cat of average size and weighing around four kilograms eats up to 70 grams of dry food and 250 grams of wet food per day. Extrapolated to the feline population of the whole of Europe, this amounts to around 9.1 tonnes of dry food per day or 3 320 tonnes per year. In the wet food segment, we are talking about 32 tonnes per day or just under 12 000 tonnes per year. The acceptance of cats as pets is largely responsible for these impressive figures.

The situation is not much different in the USA. A recent study by Packaged Facts indicates that the cat is the second-largest component of the US pet product industry by species at 43 billion dollars. According to the study, this represents 30 per cent of the total turnover of the US pet industry (2023: 145 bn dollars).

Year on year, significantly more industrialised convenience food is fed in relation to the number of animals – a clear substitute for leftovers or the mice that pets hunt themselves. In Eastern European countries in particular, there has been an accelerating backlog demand in recent years. The large number of organised pet shop chains based on the Western European model will have played its part in this. The competition is vying for the favour of cat owners with an ever-expanding range of products. In this process, cats, which are generally considered to be demanding and picky, are constantly pushing the developers of new foods to their limits.

“In the snack sector, demand is increasing for 100 per cent natural products, such as freeze-dried snacks and steam-cooked meat/fish products without any additives,” reports Trixie, for example.

Hardly any other product range in the international pet industry thrives on innovation as much as that of cats. High-quality and healthy snacks take centre stage. The positive overall development also brings with it new trends and requirements in the accessories sector, however. Due to the often urban environment, many owners now keep their cats in their flats or houses and try to fulfil the animals’ needs there. “There are trends here in the area of cat exercise wheels and interactive strategy toys to keep cats busy and mentally challenged,” reports a spokeswoman for Trixie. It is often important to owners that…