CATalyst Council Unveils 2025 Feline Market Insights Report Volume II: $12 Billion Market Reveals $20 Billion Opportunity to Close the Feline Care Gap

Business Wire

7 hours ago

ANNAPOLIS, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The CATalyst Council, the veterinary industry's leading authority on the feline market, released Volume II of its 2025 Feline Market Insights Report. This data-driven resource offers an in-depth examination of U.S. feline healthcare dynamics, owner behaviors, and veterinary trends, highlighting a $12 billion market that has been growing approximately 9% on average per year in recent years. Despite overall pet healthcare visits declining over the last three years, cats have enjoyed sustained visit and pricing growth, underscoring the compelling, scalable opportunity that, until now, has remained undiscovered within the broader long-term 'pet boom.'
"CATalyst Council is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit coalition of leaders in veterinary medicine, animal welfare, and the pet industry. It drives innovation in feline care by analyzing U.S. feline healthcare dynamics, owner behaviors, and veterinary trends."
The report confirms that, while the canine segment has dominated revenue in size, feline practice revenue has had higher average annual growth over the past 5 years. Beyond that, the current US total addressable feline veterinary market (TAM) remains at more than 2.5 times its current size, or an incremental $20 billion growth opportunity. This feline TAM simply assumes that cats reach the same rate of medicalization and level of care per visit as dogs presently enjoy.
' The growth we see in feline visits today, combined with favorable pet age demographics and an ongoing recovery in US real per capita income points to an exceptional growth opportunity arising in today's pet healthcare market,' said Jon Ayers, CATalyst Council board member and chair of its Market Insights Committee.
'Understanding feline species-specific stress responses and caregiver mindsets is critical,' said Kristin Wuhrman, Vice Chair of the CATalyst Council. 'By addressing costs, perceptions of value, and visit-related anxiety, adopting FelineVMA's Cat Friendly Practice care protocols, and educating caregivers on cat behavior, we can overcome key barriers and deepen the bond between cats, caregivers, and clinics, ultimately ensuring more cats receive the care they need.'
Volume II delivers the strategic playbook that practices, consolidators, industry suppliers, and investors need to build their investment plans:
Key Findings
$12 Billion Feline Veterinary Market with approximately 9% average annual growth: In 2024, feline practice revenue reached an estimated $11.7 billion, up from $7.6 billion in 2019, outpacing canine average annual growth (estimated at 7.5%, with 2024 US canine veterinary market of $48 billion).
Unmet Medicalization Gap: Only an estimated 30% of U.S. household-owned cats received a visit to a veterinary practice in 2024, compared to a corresponding estimated 65–70% for dogs.
Practice-Level Revenue Opportunity: Closing the care gap to match canine medicalization could expand the addressable market from $12 billion to $32 billion, adding an average of $680,000 (approximately 33%) to annual revenue to the average two-million-dollar U.S. veterinary practice location.
'Addressing the feline care gap should be a call to action for the entire animal health community,' adds Anne Ward, Chair of CATalyst Council. 'The feline veterinary segment has come of age with the opportunity for greater species-specific innovation by the industry and care profession.'
Recovery Forecast: CATalyst projects that pet age demographic headwinds faced in the last three years as a result of the aging and mortality of pets adopted during the depressed years of 2009-2011 following the 2008 great financial crisis, could turn to tailwinds as pets adopted from 2013 onwards reach their geriatric years, beginning in late 2025 or 2026. As the median lifespan of a cat is a little over 14 years, and correspondingly 13 years for a dog, these last few years of pet age are when visits are the highest after the first year of life. 'Pet demographics are hard trends and as inevitable as pet mortality and practice taxes,' said Jane Brunt DVM, proactive feline practice owner and CATalyst Council Executive Director.
This tailwind, combined with the potential for continued consumer inflation-adjusted income recovery, would accelerate feline visit growth and help reverse canine visit declines, starting in the next 6 to 18 months.
Looking Ahead: Data-Driven Validation
Building on these insights, CATalyst Council plans to field a 30,000 US-household 'State of the Cat' survey in late 2025. This extensive, statistically robust study will drill into regional, demographic, and behavioral nuances, enabling early adopters to pilot hyper-targeted programs and measure ROI against validated owner and feline needs. The 2025 CATalyst Feline Market Insights Reports, released quarterly and available exclusively to CATalyst Council sponsors, will inform each phase. CATalyst plans to share high-level conclusions throughout the year via press releases and LinkedIn, ensuring veterinary professionals, industry stakeholders, and decision-makers receive evidence-based updates.
To receive updates or inquire about the benefits of sponsorship, please visit catalystcouncil.org, and follow Catalyst Council on LinkedIn.
CATalyst Council is a national organization dedicated to accelerating innovation in feline care and enhancing quality of life for cats and their people. CATalyst's vision is to ensure all companion cats receive lifelong care by using evidence-based resources, embracing community-wide relationships for optimal health outcomes, and celebrating the human-feline bond.