A beautiful but overweight Maine Coon cat has its abdominal circumference measured by a veterinarian.
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Felix is 5 years old and loves to eat, but refuses to lose weight.
His owner, Amy, who lives in Dallas, said she tried to cut down on his food, but with two cats in the house, “he gobbles up all the food.” She worries about gaining weight because she knows obesity can shorten a cat’s lifespan and put strain on their joints and heart.
“I actually thought about it,” she said of the possibility of a weight loss drug for pets. “It would be great if you could make it for my cat.”
It may sound far-fetched, but the idea is already moving from wishful thinking to veterinary research. Two U.S. biotech companies are testing an experimental GLP-1 weight loss treatment in overweight cats, marking one of the earliest attempts to bring this blockbuster drug class into pet medicine.
Meanwhile, some of the world’s largest pet food manufacturers are investing heavily in nutrition and longevity products that target many of the same health issues.
Ozempic the cat?
The GLP-1 boom was pioneered by novo nordisk and Eli Lilly has already changed the way millions of people think about obesity, diabetes and food. Now, the same class of drugs is expanding into a new market: household pets.
Axton Biosciences is sponsoring a Cornell University clinical study of weekly GLP-1 therapy in overweight and obese cats, and San Francisco-based OKAVA Pharmaceuticals has begun testing a long-acting implant designed to continuously deliver drug for up to six months.
Neither product is approved and Ozempic for Cats is not currently commercially available. Both are still in early-stage clinical trials and need to prove safety and efficacy before reaching veterinarians.
Research points to widespread changes already underway in pet care. As pet owners spend more on premium foods, supplements, diagnostics and veterinary treatments, new opportunities are emerging for biotech alongside traditional pet food companies.
According to the Pet Obesity Prevention Association, 61% of cats and 59% of dogs evaluated by U.S. veterinary professionals in 2022 were classified as overweight or obese, highlighting the scale of a problem that veterinarians have long been familiar with.
Cats have a particularly difficult challenge. Unlike dogs, they simply cannot be taken for long walks, often resist dietary changes, and can be difficult to medicate consistently, making GLP-1 therapy potentially attractive if clinical trials are successful.
Felix the cat is having a hard time losing weight, according to his owner Amy.
“Feline obesity is one of the most common but least treatable health problems in veterinary medicine,” Axton CEO Todd Zion said in November, when the company announced its GLP-1 clinical trial for pets.
The study, sponsored by Cornell University and sponsored by Axton, will evaluate about 70 overweight or obese cats over about three months. The OKAVA study is testing veterinarian-inserted implants designed to release drugs for up to six months in a trial called MEOW-1.
Regarding commercial opportunities, an Okaba spokesperson told CNBC that pet obesity is one of the most important unmet medical needs in companion animal health, but said it was too early to comment on future sales expectations.
The companies are betting that a drug modeled after the human GLP-1 drug will help regulate appetite in pets, with key results from clinical trials expected later this year.
From premium pet food to medical care
It remains unclear whether GLP-1 drugs will eventually become commonplace in veterinary medicine. But industry analysts say they fit into a larger transformation already reshaping the $200 billion U.S. pet economy.
“Rather than owners abandoning premium food, I would describe this as an expansion from premiumization to medicalization,” Morgan Stanley analyst Simeon Gutman told CNBC in an email.
He said consumers are increasingly purchasing pet foods marketed with a focus on healthier, fresher ingredients and therapeutic nutrition, while veterinary care, diagnostics and pharmacy services are making up a growing portion of household pet spending.
Morgan Stanley estimates that total U.S. pet food will be approximately $65 billion in 2026, and overall U.S. pet spending is projected to increase from approximately $196 billion in 2025 to more than $240 billion by 2030.
Rather than replacing specialized diets, obesity drugs are likely to become another tool within a broader healthcare ecosystem that includes veterinary services, diagnostics, and nutritional therapy.
Gutman cautioned that investors should not assume that pet GLP-1 reflects the explosive commercial success of human obesity drugs.
“The most overstated assumption is that pet obesity drugs will replicate the human GLP-1 market in terms of adoption and pricing,” he said, noting that veterinary care remains largely out-of-pocket for owners and that affordability is likely to limit uptake.
Rather, he said, a more plausible short-term scenario is that growth will come from the broader obesity ecosystem, including structured weight management programs, prescription diets, and treatments for obesity-related conditions, and that it will likely take longer for a separate GLP-1 market for pets to emerge.
Food companies are already on the move.
The industry’s biggest companies aren’t waiting for an obesity drug to arrive.
Nestlé’s The company’s latest pet product strategy focuses on what the company calls “personalized health,” with new products targeting digestive health, healthy aging, and longevity. This strategy shows that major pet food companies are increasingly seeing nutrition as part of preventive health care, rather than just feeding pets.
Nestlé highlights several long-term trends that support its strategy, including the fact that cat ownership has grown nearly three times faster than dog ownership in recent years, and that premium cat food has outpaced the growth of premium dog food.
Cats in particular are becoming a more attractive growth opportunity as younger consumers gravitate toward lower-cost, low-maintenance pets, Gutman said. Dogs remain a high-spending category, but “cats represent an attractive blank opportunity rather than a larger market,” he added.
Nestlé also says its new nutritional product could extend the healthy lifespan of cats by more than a year.
Purina cat food products manufactured by Nestlé SA, arranged on Monday, July 26, 2021 in London, United Kingdom. Nestlé reported its half-year results on July 29th. Photographer: Holly Adams/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Meanwhile, the global pet supplements and nutrition market is estimated to be worth billions of dollars and continues to expand rapidly as owners increasingly seek proactive ways to improve their animals’ health.
Gutman said longevity is becoming the industry’s next major theme.
“We believe the industry is increasingly focused on extending healthspans through earlier diagnosis, higher-value treatments, and nutritional therapies,” he said. “Longevity could be the overarching theme that ties these categories together.”
This convergence is bringing together companies that once occupied separate corners of the market, from consumer staples companies selling food to biotech companies developing medicines to veterinary health care providers providing increasingly sophisticated care.
Animal health related companies Zoetis, Elanco and idex Nestlé Purina stands to benefit through treatment and diagnostics; colgate palmolive With subsidiary Hills fresh pet Gutman said they are expanding into health-focused nutrition. online retailers chewy We have expanded to include regular purchases at pharmacies and veterinary hospitals.
Will the owner accept it?
Whether pet owners pay for obesity drugs may ultimately depend more on price than science.
For Felix’s owner, Amy, price will be a deciding factor, and it will have to be much cheaper than the human GLP-1 drug. “It has to be affordable.”
This affordability issue may determine whether GLP-1 becomes mainstream in veterinary treatment or remains a niche option for some owners.
For now, this technology is still in the experimental stage. But clinical trials in cats suggest that one of the pharmaceutical industry’s most influential drug classes is entering veterinary medicine — even as established pet food companies race to convince pet owners that healthier diets, supplements and longevity-focused nutrition can offer many of the same benefits before prescription drugs hit the market.
