Pet Owners Are Still Spending, Just More Selectively, Petlens Pulse Finds

(PRESS RELEASE) RIVERSIDE, CA — World Pet Association (WPA) and BSM Partners released the first petLENS Pulse reports, with new findings showing pet owners surveyed continue to protect pet spending while becoming more selective about what earns their dollars. The inaugural September release includes Total Species, Dog and Cat reports, all available free to anyone who creates an account at petlens.org.

petLENS Pulse is the monthly report component of petLENS, the market intelligence platform announced in August. The September reports reflect August consumer sentiment data and draw on seven months of tracking that began in February 2026. The Total Species report covers dog, cat, fish, bird, reptile/amphibian, small mammal and horse categories.

“As pet owners’ priorities shift, understanding those changes is critical for businesses across the pet industry,” said Mike Karsting, WPA’s senior vice president. “petLENS Pulse gives the industry current consumer insights that can help inform decisions about everything from product development to how companies connect with pet owners.”

Key Findings From the petLENS Pulse Total Species Report

The first issue offers pet business professionals insights into consumer behaviors, including:

• Non-essential spending fell below baseline in August, suggesting owners are more selective about discretionary pet purchases.
• Interest in U.S. products remains high, giving manufacturers opportunities to use domestic sourcing to build trust and reinforce quality and transparency.
• Trust in pet food is high, but slipping below its year-to-date average.
• Brand and product discovery have cooled, but brand fatigue is climbing, which may indicate that owners are more demanding about why a brand deserves their loyalty.
• More pet owners said they worry about paying large, unplanned veterinary bills.

“This month’s data doesn’t point to pet owners pulling back, at least not across the board. They continue to spend on their pets, but we are seeing more consideration around where those dollars go,” said Michael Johnson, Principal, Marketing, Insights and Innovation, BSM Partners. “That distinction matters for businesses trying to understand where consumers are willing to spend and where they may be becoming more selective.”

The Science Driving petLENS Pulse

petLENS Pulse surveys at least 4,000 pet owners each month across species, using a consistent core questionnaire. Species-level findings are used to understand what is happening among owners within these individual pet segments, while combined results provide an aggregated, consistent cross-species view of the petLENS sample.

As part of the launch, three September issues are free — Total Species, Dog and Cat. Pricing will go into effect starting in October 2026. To learn more about petLENS and the petLENS Pulse reports, or to create an account to download your copies, visit petlens.org.

About World Pet Association

Founded in 1950, World Pet Association (WPA) is the pet industry’s oldest nonprofit organization. WPA connects and informs pet professionals through industry-defining trade shows SUPERZOO and GROOM’D. Through WPA’s Good Works program, proceeds from these events are funneled back into key industry organizations and nonprofits, including World Alliance of Grooming Associations, National Animal Interest Alliance (NAIA), USAQUA, USARK, HABRI, Pet Advocacy Network, Pet Sustainability Coalition, BEAK, Pet Care Trust/Pets in the Classroom, with the goal of making it easier for pet industry professionals to do business. WPA’s mission is to support the business needs of pet retailers and to promote responsible growth and development of the pet industry by providing thought leadership on consumer and legislative issues; leading efforts in the public sector to inform consumers and ensure safe, healthy lifestyles for all animals and providing business resources, education, content and services — including petLENS, its new market intelligence initiative, and Groom Curriculum, its grooming education program — to ensure pet product retailers have the support they need to be competitive. For more information about WPA, visit www.worldpetassociation.org.

About BSM Partners

BSM Partners is built on a simple idea: The hardest problems in pet care don’t belong to a single discipline, they live in the connections between them. Our team brings nutrition, veterinary science, product development, consumer intelligence, research, regulatory, engineering, operations and strategy into one integrated architecture that can see change, understand what is driving it and turn that understanding into action. From helping bring thousands of products to market to surfacing unprecedented industry insight through platforms like petLENS, BSM Partners doesn’t simply advise the pet care industry — we build the systems that help move it forward. Learn more at www.bsmpartners.net.