ST. LOUIS, MO. — A 2025 consumer survey of 1,201 dog owners from Nextin Research suggests there is strong demand for products that support digestive health in dogs, and probiotics may be driving purchases in pet products. More than one-third of dog parents surveyed said they feed their dog food for digestive support, with 19% reporting they do so on a regular basis. Another 19% of dog parents said they have specifically purchased a food, treat or supplement in the prior year for digestion-related needs.

The survey data also suggest probiotics are likely influential in deciding which dog food to buy. Three-out-of-five dog parents said dog food containing probiotics would make them more likely to purchase it, with 27% saying they would pay more for it. Prebiotics have also taken the stage, with 26% reporting they would pay more to have the ingredient in dog food. Postbiotics appear to be gaining momentum, with 20% of dog parents saying they would pay more for dog food made with them.

Biotics and digestive-health dog parents

Attitudes toward the biotics category are positive among dog parents: more than one-third associate probiotics with positive health benefits for dogs, and 26% and 16% associate positive health benefits with prebiotics and postbiotics, respectively. When we look closer at those who have purchased dog products for digestion, we see these positive attitudes spike across all three biotics.

The subsegment of digestion product purchasers (n=225) is much more likely than the average dog parent to be motivated to purchase a dog food containing probiotics, with 53% saying they associate probiotics with positive health benefits for dogs. Similarly, 40% said the same for prebiotics and 25% for postbiotics.

The digestion product subsegment is also more likely than the average dog parent to have spent more than an hour researching biotics, with 30% having done so for probiotics and 23% for prebiotics. When looking for information on health and nutrition for their dogs, digestive-health dog parents are highly likely to seek their veterinarian but also rely on friends and family and online sources like YouTube, reviews and brand websites.

Opportunities for pet food brands

As awareness and attitudes toward gut health grows, pet food brands should increasingly pay attention to this subsegment of consumers and leverage the highly positive affection toward biotics to increase the perception of value through product formulation, packaging and marketing.

Jon Copeland leads an insights team at MarketPlace that specializes in consumer research for business and brand strategy. With a focus on pet and human nutrition categories, his work has generated insights into consumers’ motivations and behaviors. For the past several years, Copeland has built a body of pet category research based on an annual survey of pet parents that is available on MarketPlace's syndicated research platform: NextinResearch.com.

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