This article was printed within the January 2024 problem of Pet Food Processing. Read it and different articles from this problem in our January digital edition.
When purchasing for pet meals, treats and dietary supplements, shoppers have a wealth of choices to select from. However limitless the choices could seem, the truth is that dietary choices for dogs far exceed these for cats. For instance, in 2022, Pet Food Processing coated 94 new product bulletins for dogs and simply 21 new merchandise for cats. This stark disparity is starting to catch the attention of the business and shoppers.
For instance, upon noticing an absence of cat-focused merchandise, from veterinary drugs to vitamin, cat-parent Rachit Shadra co-founded Berlin-based The Better Cat, an organization devoted to cat-centric healthcare and vitamin.
“We found that many cat parents are tired of not being able to get nutrition and care products tailored for their best friends,” stated Rachit Shadra, The Better Cat.
“We found that many cat parents are tired of not being able to get nutrition and care products tailored for their best friends,” he shared. “This was an extremely unsatisfying status quo for us, knowing that the cat food market is the larger and also faster growing market for the biggest economies in the European Union.
“After an intense research process, we found out that the pickiness of cats can be traced back to the lack of innovation around food,” Shadra added. “Very few companies were able to come up with a product strategy that would be centered around the feline — it’s not that it wasn’t possible, it’s just that it’s sharply different to what that would be for dogs. And since the largest markets are the United States and the United Kingdom, dogs take up a significantly larger portion of market share. The product innovation revolves mostly around their needs and then matching parts of it are adopted to cats.”
Global demand
Though the choices for cats are considerably smaller than these for canines, the necessity for extra cat-centric dietary merchandise is steadily rising as cat possession ranges flourish all through the globe. According to the Brussels-based European Pet Food Industry Federation’s (FEDIAF) Facts & Figures 2022 report, cats rule the roost all through the area with a inhabitants of 127.2 million. Additionally, FEDIAF estimates that 26% of European households personal at the very least one cat.
According to Shadra, this is because of developments in housing and is usually seen amongst younger generations, particularly in Germany.
“Many people, especially Millennials and Gen Zs, leave behind larger residential properties in rural areas in order to move to densely populated areas,” he added. “In the big cities, it is common practice to live in very small apartments, which only allow for small pets. This trend is reflected in the 50% of all German cats living indoors, one of the highest percentages of indoor cats worldwide.”
The Better Cat initially launched with a line of dry cat meals however has since expanded its cat-centric choices to incorporate moist codecs, treats and even provides.
Source: The Healthy Pet Co. GmbH
In Spain, dogs stay on prime inhabitants smart, however cat meals gross sales skilled much more development in 2022 in comparison with pet food. According to Spain’s National Association of Pet Food Manufacturers (ANFAAC), Madrid, dry cat meals gross sales rose 16.6%, moist cat meals rose 17.6%, and cat snacks skyrocketed 25.7%, whereas gross sales of pet food merchandise skilled a lot smaller will increase at 12.8% for dry, 13.8% for moist, and 9.5% for snacks.
Looking throughout the pond to the United States, attritions in pet possession could begin to show the tide from dog-country to cat. According to analysis from Rockville, Md.-based Packaged Facts, dog-owning households decreased from 42% in 2018 to 38% in 2022 as a consequence of attritions in pet possession, whereas cat-owning households elevated 1% throughout the identical interval.
Despite sturdy cat possession ranges, the dog-cat product disparity is well-known to cat dad and mom. According to Packaged Facts’ September/October 2023 survey, 44% of cat house owners really feel that cats are handled as second-class residents by pet meals and deal with corporations, a rise of 6% in comparison with January 2022.
Current choices
With a transparent development market established, many cat-centric corporations have entered the market, paying a high-level of consideration to feline dietary wants that dogs have acquired for many years.
“Over the past several years, marketers of cat food and treats have been focusing on offering more premium products, similar to what has been available in the dog category for over a decade,” stated Shannon Brown, Packaged Facts Pet.
“Over the past several years, marketers of cat food and treats have been focusing on offering more premium products, similar to what has been available in the dog category for over a decade,” stated Shannon Brown, model supervisor of Packaged Facts Pet. “We’ve seen new product development in cat food and treats focus on functional products, higher-quality proteins and ingredients, more diverse formulations, including kitten and senior products, and more cat-specific offerings in areas such as supplements. We expect these trends to continue as cat owner demand continues to drive these developments.”
Among these corporations contains The Better Cat, which launched in 2022 with a give attention to vitamin designed with cats on the forefront. The firm initially launched with a variety of dry cat meals however has since expanded to incorporate moist diets, freeze-dried treats, and even some cat provides. The firm’s meals and deal with formulation are excessive in protein and comprise superfoods, prebiotics and different purposeful components.
In creating all its merchandise, The Better Cat hones its give attention to preventive well being, which regularly begins with purposeful components.
“Every single recipe that we bring out into the market for cats has natural ingredients and supplements directly infused into the food specifically targeted at helping cats stay healthy and avoid getting digestive, immune, mobility or relaxation-related health issues,” Shadra stated. “This is precisely what makes us incredibly different from everyone else in the market — we don’t just look at protein, carbs, fats.”
The firm is at present planning a line of purposeful cat treats focusing on mobility, immune well being, and pores and skin and coat well being in felines to additional increase its choices, in addition to its purpose to supply cats with extra preventive care.
Made by Nacho takes a extra culinary strategy to cat-centric vitamin impressed by co-founder Celebrity Chef Bobby Flay.
|Source: Made by Nacho
“Along with our veterinarian and nutritionist, we identified the four core health areas which cats struggle with at most points in their life: digestion (stomach and kidneys), immunity, mobility and relaxation/anxiety,” Shadra stated. “When we looked at most of our incumbents, they all took a prescription or medical food approach for these specific areas. We decided to turn this on its head. We decided that we don’t want to go into cure/regulation — we’d rather go into prevention.”
Other cat-centric corporations in search of to satisfy gaps within the cat vitamin market embrace Made by Nacho, New York; Smalls, New York; Ten Lives, San Francisco; and KatKin, Clerkenwell, England.
Sensitive senses
The problem many run into when creating merchandise for cats is their completely different consuming behaviors, with many citing cats as “finicky.” According to Nancy Rawson, Ph.D., appearing director and president of Monell Chemical Senses Center, Philadelphia, this habits may be attributed to cats’ sensory techniques, that are starkly completely different in comparison with dogs’ techniques. This makes creating meals and treats for cats a bit harder — however not unimaginable.
“With cats, [food] has to pass the nose test, the tongue test, and they are also more sensitive to textures and shapes,” stated Nancy Rawson, Monell Chemical Sensory Systems.
“With a dog, if [food] passes the ‘nose’ test, it’s going down,” Rawson shared. “With cats, it has to pass the nose test, the tongue test, and they are also more sensitive to textures and shapes. Cats also don’t show their positive reactions in quite the same way a dog does.
“Cats have been domesticated for a much shorter period of time and are still learning, so we may be inferring disinterest or dislike when they like the food just fine, but just don’t feel like eating when you want them to or aren’t communicating their interest in a way that we expect or would like,” she added.
To account for cats’ various form and texture preferences, many cat-centric corporations supply quite a lot of meals codecs.
| Source: ©ANINKA – STOCK.ADOBE.COM
As defined by Rawson, cats’ style receptors are a lot completely different in comparison with these in dogs. For one factor, a cat’s sugar style receptor has mutated to be nonfunctional, which means felines can’t style candy flavors. Secondly, their umami style receptor responds extra strongly to amino acids like aspartate. Also, cats’ bitter style receptors are a lot smaller than these in dogs and people.
Not solely do cat’s style receptors differ — so does their consuming type. Unlike dogs, cats don’t chew their meals, preferring as a substitute to swallow it entire. This makes choosing the suitable texture and form crucial when formulating, as a cat depends on a lengthier determination course of to totally perceive their meals earlier than they’re prepared take it down.
“Generally, cats are more discriminating than dogs,” stated Dan Su, DVM, board-certified veterinary nutritionist and supervisor of vitamin companies for BSM Partners, Bentonville, Ark. “Cats are also more sensitive to texture, so formulators have to take that into consideration as well. An example of this is the numerous textures available in wet foods with products such as pate, chunks and gravy, minced, etc. to satisfy differing cat preferences. In fresh formulations, dogs will eat most ingredients that are used in the formulation, but cats may not eat even an all-meat diet if the smell, flavor or texture is not to their liking.”
Cat-specific challenges
Aside from their differing sensory perceptions, many different challenges come up when creating cat-specific vitamin, from the suitable components to produce chain and sustainability points.
Regarding components, it’s crucial that each suppliers and producers perceive the variations for cats. Since felines and canines will not be the identical species, adjusting a pet food components to swimsuit cats is probably not one of the best strategy as many components have differing toxicity ranges and well being impacts. For occasion, completely different phosphate sources impression felines in a different way than canines.
“Not all phosphate sources are created equal,” Su defined. “Research shows that inorganic phosphates from supplemental phosphorus sources/acidifiers like phosphoric acid, but not organic sources from meat and bone, can contribute to long term kidney damage in cats. Because of this, the industry is going to have to shift formulation strategy and infrastructure to accommodate for using other ingredients that don’t contribute more inorganic phosphorus to feline diets.”
To deal with rising shopper demand for sustainability, The Better Cat’s formulation are made with algae oil as a substitute of salmon oil.
| Source: The Healthy Pet Co. GmbHIssues with proteins are rising too. Since cats are obligate carnivores and discover proteins to be extraordinarily palatable, feline-only pet meals producers are demanding much more from an already strained protein provide chain. Additionally, cat dad and mom have gotten extra conscious of their felines’ environmental paw-print. As cultured meat, plant-based proteins and bugs proliferate the pet food house, many cat house owners are in search of cat meals made with extra sustainable proteins, in addition to different components.
To reduce its environmental impression and the pressure on fisheries, The Better Cat changed salmon oil in its formulation with algae oil, a extra sustainable different. According to Shadra, the corporate was the primary in Germany to make the transfer.
“We believe that the ball has just started rolling on making cat food more sustainable,” Sharda stated. “It is a well-documented fact that cats are carnivores, so they need a large amount of good quality meat; however, what is stopping us from innovating on the other animal-sourced ingredients that are used in the manufacturing process today?
“We believe that lab-grown/cultivated meat is also an increasing trend, especially in the United States,” he added.
Research, analysis, analysis
With cat possession set to rise all through the globe, cat dad and mom will grow to be extra decided that their felines be handled much less like second-class residents. This will undoubtedly trigger extra feline-centric corporations to spring into the market providing extra purposeful cat meals and treats, very like these already available on the market for dogs.
Source: ©DENIS – STOCK.ADOBE.COM“In the coming years, nutritional products will become more specialized, offering benefits for specific aspects of a cat’s health,” Shadra stated. “This will result in more complex recipes with a range of novel ingredients, which consumers might have never heard of before… Our main job will be to proactively and transparently communicate the benefits of the ingredients used.”
Before this may occur, extra analysis into cat well being and vitamin is required. According to Su, there’s a lot much less analysis carried out on felines, particularly for purposeful and novel components, furthering the issue in creating improvements for these meowing companions.
“Cats are not small dogs,” he added. “Functional ingredients to include in cat products need to have been evaluated in cats for safety and efficacy. I would encourage companies to perform more cat-centric nutrition research to add to what we know about functional ingredient dosing and safety for our feline friends.”
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