Alex Khourdaji – Analyst
March 12th, 2021
In 2020, the CBD petcare industry saw a spike in acquisitions and partnerships by prominent players in the CBD space. In September last year, Hemp Technologies, a publicly-traded vertically integrated hemp and CBD company, acquired all of True Leaf Pet assets, a hemp and CBD infused petcare brand.
Through the acquisition, the company aims to diversify their portfolio as the True Leaf Brand will fall under the company’s wholly-owned subsidiary Hemp Tech, Pet Health Technology Inc. Medterra, one of the leading CBD brands in the world, made some significant milestones in the pet CBD category to position itself as one of the leaders in the US market by partnering with Bentley’s Pet Stuff, one of the leading pet care and food retailing companies in the US.
Through the partnership, Medterra aims to provide its complete pet product portfolio to 65 Bentley’s Pet Stuff stores, including the brand’s CBD tinctures, as well as joint support and calming soft chews. Canopy Growth, one of the world’s leading cannabis companies, partnered with Martha Stewart to launch a CBD wellness solutions for dogs. Under the Martha Stewart CBD for Pet portfolio, the company offers various oil drops and soft baked chews.
Innovation in the sector has mainly consisted of new methods on how CBD can be administered to pets, especially dogs. Kradle, a US-based CBD dog brand, developed products that use discreet packaging and come in various mouth mint strips, single-serve toppers, and calming CBD chews.
Honest Paws, one of the leading CBD petcare brands, released their innovative Wag N’ Rinse ‘easy-to-use silicon hexagon designed for dogs who hate taking baths. Holistic Hound, a California-based CBD petcare company, took a more creative approach to ingredients as they developed pet tinctures full of Cannabigerol (CBG) and Chaga mushrooms.
Currently, the CBD petcare products that are on the market are predominantly focused on dogs. This comes as no surprise as the trend to treat house pets like valued family members, also known as ‘pet humanisation’, has been growing over the years and is mainly seen with dog owners.
With pet humanisation being the driving force behind the growing petcare and petcare CBD market, pet owners are increasingly spending more on their pets’ food, health and wellness products and services. This trend is evident when analysing the growing trend of pet insurance numbers.
There has been a worldwide growing trend of pet owners purchasing health and accident insurance for their pets. Pet owners are increasingly deciding that pets are valuable members of their family and thus are willing to ensure their safety and wellbeing. This trend has significantly influenced the pet CBD market as higher quality and natural products are demanded by consumers.
The pet humanisation trend is very apparent with the millennial generation; the rise of pet ownership in the younger demographic seems to correlate with the fact that fewer millennials are getting married and having children as they are more focused on their careers, pushing them to start a family later.
Thus, people between the ages of 25-35 are more likely to choose pets over children. COVID-19 has had a significant effect on pet humanisation as many consumers have ‘treated’ their pets more during pandemic lockdowns than before. A 2020 survey conducted by Rover, a dog sitting platform, concluded that 33% of millennials spent more than before the COVID-19 crisis on their dogs during the pandemic.
Lockdown restrictions associated with COVID-19 significantly increased pet CBD products as lockdowns have harmed animals behaviour as they have been enclosed in their homes with their owners. Leading dogs to feel anxious as they weren’t practising their regular routines of exercise and socialising with other dogs. Thus, pet owners used CBD to treat their pet’s anxieties caused by the pandemic.
The future of the pet CBD market is set to show great promise, as it is one of the fastest-growing segments in the overall CBD market. As pet humanisation increases and the CBD hype continues, the sector will most likely see new developments in products that target a more comprehensive range of animals, including gerbils, fish, birds and amphibians. It can also be expected that the market will see a broader range of products that include cannabinoids other than CBD and specific terpenes.
It can also be expected that larger players in the overall petcare industry will enter the pet CBD space. Nestlé, one of the largest petcare companies and the parent organisation of Purina, already markets pet CBD products under its Garden of Life brand.
Prohibition Partners IMPACT SERIES: Disrupting Petcare takes a deep dive into the current state of the CBD pet care market and consumer trends. The report includes:
- Legislation and Regulation
- Market Size and Forecasts
- Market Trends
- Consumer Data
- Companies and Brand Activity
- The Future of the Industry
