Alternative pet foods have been growing in popularity for several years, but I’m not sure anyone predicted that, come 2025-26, they might become the industry’s growth savior, at least in developed markets. As in, if it weren’t for the high growth rates in this category, pet food sales in places like the U.S. would be experiencing low to no growth.
“In fact, frozen/refrigerated pet foods are growing fast enough to bring up overall dog food growth by over one percentage point,” reads a new report from Packaged Facts, “Pet Food in the US, 19th Edition.” The increasing entry of alternative pet foods into the cat space (though still lagging behind products for dogs) is helping, too. The freeze-dried and air-dried sub-category, encompassing pure freeze-/air-dried products as well as kibble with related inclusions, is estimated to end up at about US$2.4 billion by the end of 2025, according to the research firm.
NielsenIQ data showed 13.4% growth, an increase of US$208 million, for refrigerated and frozen dog food in the U.S., reported Thaís Matos, senior business reporter for GlobalPets, in the November 2025 issue of Pets International magazine. That compares very favorably to traditional dry and wet dog food, plus the total dog food category, which have all declined (by -0.5%, -3.2% and -0.2%, respectively). Globally, Technavio estimates a compound annual growth rate of 21.2% through 2029 for refrigerated and frozen dog food.
Higher alternative pet food prices pose a challenge
Thanks to this rise, large pet food companies like Mars, General Mills, Nestlé Purina and Colgate-Palmolive have joined fresh-food stalwarts like Freshpet, as well as smaller players, in the alternative category. In addition, Freshpet and Jinx have entered into new distribution agreements with retailers, Matos wrote, while others such as United Premium Food (in the U.S.) and the Grateful Pet (Singapore) are focusing on packaging innovations.
Truly, the only reason alternative pet foods haven’t completely taken off around the world is because of their relatively higher price, especially in today’s economy. “Given the economic challenges currently facing pet owners, the price of fresh pet foods is the biggest challenge to growth, leading marketers to encourage pet owners to combine fresh pet food with kibble to add variety and flavor,” said Packaged Facts. (Logistics in terms of storage and retail display can also be trickier with fresh and frozen foods, but that seems to be less of a challenge as more retailers carry the products.)
While 50% of 500 U.S. pet owners surveyed by NielsenIQ have purchased fresh pet food, and 44% said they’re willing to buy it again, they also pointed to cost as the main factor in not repurchasing it, Matos said. Her colleague, David Palacios, editor-in-chief of GlobalPets, reported on a survey by Yummypets, a France-based pet owner community, and Pets International; among 1,200 pet owners from Brazil, Canada, France, Mexico, the U.K. and the U.S., 43% cited “too expensive” as the main reason for not feeding alternative diets. Among U.S. pet owners, that reached 64%.
Bullish outlook for the category
Still, many are bullish on the prospects for alternative pet foods due to other data like what the Yummypets/Pets International survey revealed: The share of fresh pet food purchases among the 1,200 pet owners leaped to 70% in 2025 from 52% in a similar survey in 2023, while 58% reported buying dehydrated pet food, up from 55% in 2023. Purchasing of raw pet food increased from 25% in 2023 to 33%, and, for frozen diets, usage rose from only 14% in 2023 to 25%.
The popularity of the different sub-categories varied by country. For example, in France, 70% of respondents reported feeding dehydrated pet food, while in Brazil and Mexico, fresh diets were most popular, favored by 82-83%; the same held true for Canada, the U.K. and the U.S. albeit at lower levels. Frozen and raw pet food have lower penetration in general, again also varying by country.
Among all these owners feeding alternative diets, 45% said they expect to purchase more, and an additional 38% said they plan to spend the same amount. Pet food makers in the category still have many pet owners to convert to their products, but if and as that happens, it seems they have potential to build ongoing growth and loyalty.
