By Lynn Maria Thompson
The American Pet Products Association (APPA) shares statistics about the pet industry at each year’s Global Pet Expo during a Wednesday press conference. CWA was unable to attend the press conference, but CWA former-presidents Lynn Maria Thompson and Dusty Rainbolt represented CWA at this year’s Global Pet Expo.
According to APPA’s 2026 State of the Industry Report preview, 53 million U.S. households (39% of all households) shared their homes with a cat in 2025, representing a 5% increase over the previous year. These people are the audience for your cat-focused creative work.
Pet Spending
Spending on pets in 2025 was at $158 billion — yes, that’s billion, with a B! By category, those figures broke down into:
Looking at year-over-year growth, expenditures in the pet industry have consistently grown by around 4% to 5% per year. Examining figures over time, the APPA came up with the figures and projections shown below:
Pet Ownership
Pet ownership overall grew over the past year among Gen X (from 25% to 28% of all people in Gen X had a pet) and Gen Z (from 20% to 21%), declining among Boomers (from 25% to 22%), and holding steady with Millennials at 30%:
65% of all U.S. households that have pets have multiple pets, with the highest likelihood of this to be among Millennials (69%), followed by Gen Z (68%), Gen X (64%), and Boomers (54%).
Implications For Cat Media Creators
Cat media creators, you can keep these figures in mind as you’re putting together your articles, books, blogs, podcasts, vlogs, or artwork — the audience you created material for last year may not be the same one you’re creating for this year.
About the Author
Lynn Maria Thompson is the CWA’s immediate past president. She has worked equally as long in the corporate world and as a solopreneur, offering writing and editing services to clients. Lynn will soon be relaunching several of her past books written for authors and for leaders. Learn more about her at the Thompson Writing & Editing website.
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