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Premium pet food: Fussy felines help drive Nestlé’s pet food plans

The production of pet food is slowing as people adopt smaller dogs and more cats, prompting brands – such as Nestlé – to focus on premium and specialised products.

Growth in production of pet food slowed for the first time in years in 2025, rising 2.4% to 39.276 million metric tons, according to the 2026 agri-food outlook published by Alltech.

European tonnages were up 3.5% “reflecting continued household penetration and export strength”. Africa was the standout region with 11.7%.

The overall slowdown was primarily due to “normalisation in North America following pandemic-driven expansion, alongside demographic shifts in pet ownership”, the report reads.

In the US, for example, people are adopting smaller dogs and cats, which “consume less feed per animal, dampening volume growth”.

Nestlé’s focus is premium food for pickier cats

This trend was highlighted by Nestlé CEO Philipp Navratil at the DeutscheBank global consumer conference 2026 in June.

Navratil noted that the category had “good structural growth” and that pet adoption was still present but he added: “…what you see is that households that have several pets or had several pets, they're not replacing the number two or number three when it dies. And you have a trend to smaller dogs in general”.

NPD for cats requires ‘more science and technology’

Cat ownership was up and Nestlé was building back capacity in the US to meet demand in this growing segment, said Navratil.

“As people go back to work, [the] cat is just an easier animal to hold at home, and cats are growing in that sense. And so we like cats a lot because cats are also picky eaters in a sense. And so you need more science and technology to actually cater to that successfully,” he added.

Nestlé Purina Petcare Europe has just relaunched and expanded its Gourmet Perle range as it looks to meet increasing demand for premium wet cat food.

“Today's cat owners are paying closer attention to what goes on their pet's plate – from the quality of ingredients to how recipes are made – and increasingly value higher-quality options,” the company said in a statement.

Premium wet cat food is a fastest-growing category globally

This is the “personification of pets” trend as Navratil put it.

“[Pets are] part of the family and people are actually making the extra effort to treat them well and just spend extra money on their pets. And that's a trend that helps us as well,” he explained.

With around 108 million pet cats across Europe, the category continues to offer significant opportunities for growth, particularly in wet food, which caters to 'feline foodies' who enjoy variety and refined textures.

Premium wet cat food is among the fastest-growing categories globally, with around 6% value growth, according to Nestlé, highlighting “strong demand for more elevated, high-quality feeding experiences”.

Premium opportunity: Nestlé to invest in pet therapeutics

Pet therapeutics is the other premium area that Navratil is committed to invest in. These are the specialised products that are normally sold only through veterinary channels, for example.

Pro Plan is Nestlé’s brand in that space, available for both cats and dogs. “[...] those are products that piggyback from our science and technology backbone from the nutrition division that we have,” Navratil explained. “And they're really smart in taking some of those benefits that research and development comes up with into pet food [and] into driving pet food with health benefits, but also healthy longevity, weight management [...] even memory management.”

Navratil said there would be “more boots on the ground” selling these products into veterinary clinics.

“[...] it's highly specialised. It's premium and it's scientific products, and we believe we have an edge there, and we're going to invest there. It's high growth,” he added.