Cat ownership in the U.S. hit an all-time high of 49 million households in 2024, a 23% increase year over year, and cat food product development may be starting to keep pace. In a July 2025 poll of pet food professionals on PetfoodIndustry.com, 45% said their companies are actively developing new cat foods or treats. On the other hand, 18% said they’re considering this but lack concrete plans, while 36% report no current plans or are simply watching trends without taking action.
It doesn’t help that cats are not as well researched or understood as dogs in terms of genetics, nutritional needs, health and behavior. One initiative attempting to fill the void: Darwin’s Cats, a collaboration among Hill’s Pet Nutrition, the Broad Institute, UMass Chan Medical School and Darwin’s Ark, a community-powered research platform. Jennifer Radosevich, Ph.D., senior vice president of research and innovation for Hill’s, explained Darwin’s Cats in a recent episode of the Trending: Pet Food podcast, hosted by Petfood Industry magazine editor Lindsay Beaton.
Darwin’s Cats seeks to address several issues. “Historically, feline health research has been sorely underfunded compared to canine counterparts,” said Radosevich. “First, I think we had to come to the realization that cats are not small dogs. Twenty years ago, we would say, ‘We’ll understand what’s going on in dogs, and then we’ll just go ahead and roll out those technologies to cats.’” Obviously, that type of thinking was erroneous; cats have unique genetics, nutritional and health needs.
A couple of factors make the initiative itself unique. One is its platform, which Radosevich calls “an innovative community science model.” Meaning, cat owners provide samples from their cats to “gather large-scale genetic and behavioral data” in a cat-friendly way. “Most dogs, you can get them to be able to do a cheek swab. Cats less so, right? They’re not really thrilled with having a swab put in their mouth.” Darwin’s Cats devised a very small comb: “You can just comb your cat to get a little bit of fur, then you give that sample.”
Also, the data, unlike that generated by research funded by a company and considered proprietary, is open access. “This is a public community research effort that Hill’s is partnering with, but it’s going to be available to the whole pet industry so we can enable deeper insights into feline health and behavior to pave the way for better veterinary care and targeted nutritional solutions,” Radosevich explained. Interested cat owners (and companies) can visit darwinsark.org and click on Darwin’s Cats.
