From pet food to health management, the market continues to expand

From "bait" to "meal".

Pet diet and health care have changed in recent years. Demand for high-value-added pet foods called ``premium foods'' is increasing due to owners' desire to extend the healthy lifespans of their pets. For dogs, products are increasingly segmented and diversified according to age, breed, and health condition, while for cats, products that promote health care and high-quality materials are popular.

Christmas cakes and New Year's cakes for dogs and cats, which can be enjoyed together on special occasions, are also popular. At Aeon Pet (Ichikawa City, Chiba Prefecture), which operates pet supplies stores and grooming salons, sales of frozen cakes and New Year's dishes for dogs and cats in 2025 have increased 1.9 times compared to 2019.

Pet health management is also evolving. At RABO (Shibuya-ku, Tokyo), which develops and sells products for pets, its ``smart collars'' for dogs and cats are popular.

Using an acceleration sensor and AI, it analyzes and records daily activities such as walking, eating, and sleeping, and alerts you if there are any abnormalities. Catlog, which was first sold in 2019, has been used by a total of 60,000 cats in Japan and overseas.

According to Yano Research Institute, the total pet-related market size in 2025 was 1.9504 trillion yen, an increase of 2.1% from the previous year. It is predicted to exceed 2 trillion yen in 2027. We interviewed Aeon Pet and Labo about the changes in the pet market, which is becoming more and more family-oriented.