Given the ongoing growth and popularity of pet food formats like raw, frozen, freeze dried and fresh, are they becoming mainstream? Is the term “alternative” no longer accurate to apply to them?
That’s what the representative of one pet food manufacturer wondered in talking with my colleague, Lisa Cleaver, at SuperZoo 2026 in August. And consider these new growth rates at U.S. independent pet retailers, according to a new survey from eTailPet, a point-of-sale system for this retailer segment: 55% for raw, 53% for frozen and 46% for freeze-dried. Unfortunately, the survey report, which covered the responses from 189 independent pet retailers, didn’t include growth rates for formats like dry or canned for comparison.
Data from NielsenIQ (NIQ) does make that comparison, at least for dog food in 2025. Cited by Cascadia Capital in its Pet Industry Insights, Summer 2026 report, the data showed fresh dog food (defined by NIQ as fresh and frozen) at 8%, canned at 15% and dry at 46%, rounded out by dog treats at 31%.
I’m not sure why treats were included in the assessment with complete and balanced diets, but here’s what’s most salient: The fresh food segment rose 24.5% from 2021-2025, while the overall dog food and treat category had a compound annual growth rate of 5.7% during that period. And, fresh dog food had a U.S. household penetration of 10%, compared to 61% for the entire dog food and treat category.
Soaring growth rates signal strong potential
To be sure, kibble is still king for dog and cat food in terms of market share, and that’s true globally. And canned food (sometimes called shelf-stable wet, or retort, to distinguish it from fresh food) has been rising, especially in the cat category. A survey of more than 1,000 U.S. pet owners by Lonnie Hobbs Jr., Ph.D., assistant professor of agricultural economics at Kansas State University, showed 68% feeding dry and 17% feeding canned. (Respondents could choose more than one option.)
Yet kibble’s share has leveled off, even declined, and canned’s growth is not to the level of fresh, frozen, freeze dried and the like. Their robust growth rates are key to the potential for these pet food formats to reach similar levels as dry and canned.
Currently, 9% of those owners surveyed by Hobbs are feeding fresh pet food, which is likely to increase over time. The Cascadia report showed 38% of pet owners canvassed by NIQ in 2026 expected to spend more on fresh pet food, while 58% expected to keep their spending on it the same.
“Over the next several years, we expect the [fresh pet food] category to be… somewhere in the US$8 billion to US$12 billion range,” said Sumit Singh, CEO of Chewy, during an earnings call, quoted by Cascadia.
Jeff Harmening, CEO of General Mills (which launched its own fresh pet food line in October 2025), was similarly bullish in an earnings call, saying his company tracked the fresh pet food subcategory at US$3 billion in 2025 and projected it to grow to US$10 billion in the next 10 years.
Good for add-ons, ‘flexible’ feeding
Part of the growth for newer pet food formats comes from the fact that owners often feed them in combination with kibble, dubbed as “flexible feeding” by Packaged Facts. Its 2025 survey of U.S. pet owners showed 15% adding fresh/gently cooked/refrigerated pet food to their pets’ kibble, 11% adding fresh/gently cooked/frozen, 11% adding raw and 9% adding freeze dried or air dried. In addition, 25% reported adding pet food toppers or mixers, at least some of which likely fell into one of those format sub-categories.
This may be the way most pet owners continue to feed fresh, frozen, freeze dried and similar formats due to their cost. For example, a pound of fresh pet food can cost from US$5.50 to $7.75 (depending on whether it’s from a direct-to-consumer company, according to the Cascadia report), compared to US$2.75 per pound for dry and US$3.50 for shelf-stable wet.
In fact, those higher costs may limit just how much the share of these formats can rise. But there’s no denying that, as consumers seek products that are less processed and perceived to contribute to health and wellness — and find more options on the market, including from larger, mainstream pet food companies like General Mills, Hill’s and Nestlé — the formats will shed their niche status for good.
