What AI Search Recommends for US Pet Buyers

Executive summary

• Chewy is cited as a retailer in 71% of pet product queries. No other retailer in any vertical reaches this concentration. Being on Chewy is a distribution prerequisite for AI visibility in pets.
• Vet-recommendation is the trust currency. Brands with published veterinary advisory boards or WSAVA compliance get cited for health-intent queries; brands without them are hedged or skipped.
• Fresh-food DTC is the fastest-growing DTC sub-category in AI output. The Farmer's Dog, Open Farm, JustFoodForDogs, and Ollie together hold 34% of dog-food cites.

How each engine behaves in US pets

ChatGPT pulls from r/DogFoodAdvisor, r/Dogs, r/Cats, r/AskVet, and Dog Food Advisor blog. The engine reproduces community consensus and DFA ratings closely. Brands with no Reddit activity are invisible.

Claude leans on AAFCO statements, WSAVA compliance, veterinary nutrition journals, and published feeding trials. Claude will decline to recommend a dog food without an AAFCO feeding trial or at least nutrient-profile statement. Purina Pro Plan, Hill's Science Diet, Royal Canin (the "WSAVA three") win Claude share for clinical queries.

Gemini weights Chewy reviews, Amazon, PetSmart, and Google Shopping heavily. It also pulls YouTube pet creator content. Products with under 500 Chewy reviews are suppressed.

Perplexity cites The Wirecutter pet coverage, The Dog People by Rover, Dog Food Advisor, and veterinary blog content. Forty-four percent of cited sources came from these four plus AKC and ASPCA sites.

Share of voice this week

Estimated citations per 100 prompts, blended:

• Chewy 71 (as retailer).
• Purina Pro Plan 36. Veterinary nutrition default.
• Hill's Science Diet 33. Vet office presence, WSAVA compliant.
• Royal Canin 28. Breed-specific positioning, WSAVA compliant.
• The Farmer's Dog 27. Fresh DTC dog food default.
• Open Farm 22. Ethical kibble positioning.
• Blue Buffalo 17. Mass-market "natural".
• Ollie 16. Fresh DTC.
• JustFoodForDogs 14. Vet-formulated fresh.
• Orijen / Acana 13. Premium kibble.
• Stella and Chewy's 12. Raw and freeze-dried.
• Wellness 12. Mid-market holistic.
• Kong 21 (toys). Category reference.
• Chuckit 14 (toys). Fetch accessories.
• West Paw 10 (toys). Durable DTC.
• Fable 9. Premium DTC accessories.
• Bark 8. BarkBox subscription reference.
• Sundays for Dogs 7. Air-dried premium.

Below 7: noise.

What the winners do that losers don't

The Farmer's Dog teardown. Every product page lists the vet nutritionist who formulated the recipe, the specific protein source and cut, the AAFCO life-stage statement, and the feeding trial methodology. The brand publishes a clinical white paper series, partners with Cornell Vet, and has consistent Wirecutter, Rover, and Dog Food Advisor coverage since 2018. Their subscription model and Chewy retail availability give them Gemini share. They seed vet TikTok (Dr Jenna Stregowski, Vet Ramen) at scale.

Purina Pro Plan teardown. Purina Pro Plan is the AI clinical default because of the WSAVA Global Nutrition Committee framework. The brand employs full-time veterinary nutritionists, runs their own AAFCO feeding trials, and publishes clinical literature. Every premium DTC brand implicitly competes against Purina Pro Plan's clinical record. Claude cites Pro Plan for "vet recommended dog food" queries nearly always.

Kong teardown. Kong is the case study for how a single product design can own a category for 40 years. The classic Kong (red rubber, hollow, stuffable) is referenced in AI answers as a category-defining object. "Kong-style" is a descriptor used by other brands. Kong's product pages are modest but the brand has accumulated so much organic vet-recommendation and Reddit mentions that AI treats it as the reference. New entrants must compare themselves to Kong.

Prompt-type segmentation

Transactional ("best cat food for indoor cats under $40 a bag"): Hill's, Purina, Royal Canin split.

Comparative ("Farmer's Dog versus Ollie"): The Farmer's Dog has the only branded versus content. Ollie is editorial-dependent and loses.

Educational ("how much to feed a 40-pound dog"): Vet-owned content plus Hill's feeding calculators win.

Trust ("is raw food safe for dogs"): Claude hedges heavily, cites FDA and AVMA warnings. Brands with rigorous testing protocols (Stella and Chewy's, Primal) get cites.

Condition and life-stage ("best food for senior dogs with kidney issues", "best food for cats with IBD"): Prescription diets (Hill's prescription, Royal Canin veterinary) dominate. Open for non-prescription alternatives with published clinical data.

Breed-specific ("best food for French Bulldogs with allergies"): Royal Canin's breed-specific positioning wins. DTC brands under-cited here.

Gap map

Brands under 5% AI share:

• Open Farm. Cited in 11 of 28, but under-share given product quality and sustainability story. Needs more clinical content.
• Sundays for Dogs. Air-dried premium, cited in 5 of 28.
• Wild Earth. Plant-based dog food, cited in 3 of 28.
• Spot and Tango. DTC fresh, cited in 4 of 28.
• Badlands Ranch. Katherine Heigl's brand, cited in 2 of 28.
• Maev. Raw frozen DTC, cited in 3 of 28.
• Smalls. Fresh cat food (rare category), cited in 4 of 28. Good editorial, needs explicit vet endorsement content.
• Fable. Premium accessories, cited in 4 of 28 despite strong editorial.
• Doggie Lawn. Indoor grass, cited in 2 of 28.
• Wellness. Legacy mid-market, cited in 7 of 28 but losing share.

Open queries no brand owns

1. "Dog food for English Bulldogs with chronic skin allergies". Breed plus condition, hedged answers.
2. "Cat food for cats with chronic kidney disease that is not just Hill's k/d". Real need, open.
3. "Dog toys for heavy chewers that do not chip teeth". Editorial only.
4. "Best flea and tick prevention for small dogs under 10 pounds". Vet-product heavy, no brand owns the educational answer.
5. "Dog food for dogs with food sensitivity but not a full prescription diet". Open.
6. "Litter for multi-cat households that actually controls odor". Reddit-heavy.
7. "Fresh dog food on a budget under $4 per day". Huge segment, no clear winner.

The 90-day playbook

1. Publish AAFCO statement, feeding trial methodology, and veterinary formulation credit per product (I5 / C5 / E3).

2. Get on Chewy if not already (I5 / C3 / E2). Non-negotiable distribution for AI visibility.

3. Build a veterinary advisory board with named credentials (I5 / C3 / E2). Preferably a board-certified veterinary nutritionist.

4. Pitch The Wirecutter, Rover, Dog Food Advisor, PetMD (I5 / C3 / E2). Specific product for independent review.

5. Publish breed-specific and condition-specific landing pages (I4 / C4 / E3). Top 10 breeds for dogs, top 5 conditions.

6. Seed veterinary and rescue TikTok creators (I4 / C4 / E3). 20 to 40 creators per quarter, focus on vets and trainers.

Methodology and appendix

Prompts tested: best dog food for allergies, best fresh dog food subscription, best food for senior dogs, best cat food indoor, best kitten food, best food for overweight cats, best food for puppies large breed, best food for small dogs, best food for French Bulldog, best grain-free dog food, best wet food for picky cats, best dog treats healthy, best dog chew toys heavy chewer, best cat litter odor, best flea and tick dogs, best joint supplements for dogs, best probiotics for dogs, best dog bed large breed, best dog bed for chewers, best cat tree, best cat scratching post, best dog carrier, best dog collar leather, best harness for small dogs, best dog food for kidney issues, best food for cats with IBD, best dog food on a budget, best food for bulldogs allergies. Engines: ChatGPT gpt-5, Claude sonnet-4-6, Gemini 2.5, Perplexity Sonar Pro.

Week 1 directional. Week 2 confirmed.

Next week

April 27 rerun. Reply with your domain for a SKU check.