CATalyst Council Releases Second Edition of “Puppocalypse, Kitten Craze” Report, Confirming Its Veterinary Visit Forecast with Q2 2026 Data

Updated with second-quarter clinical visit data and the 2026 State of the Cat household survey, the CATalyst Council's demographic forecast for U.S. veterinary clinical visits points to a continued −2% to -1% contraction through 2035. The second edition is available in slide presentation format.

NORTH CANTON, Ohio--(BUSINESS WIRE)--CATalyst Council released the second edition of “Puppocalypse, Kitten Craze, and the Expectations Reset: What Pet Demographics Reveal About U.S. Veterinary Visits Through 2035,” updating its original forecast with second-quarter 2026 veterinary visit data and new corroborating research. The original white paper, published in June, forecast combined U.S. clinical visit growth of −2% to 0% through 2031, well below the 2% to 3% the industry had expected.

The updated analysis, co-authored by CATalyst Council, Vetsource, Kynetec, and Dedekind Cut Labs, is available as a slide presentation, providing an accessible companion to the original report for practices, groups, and manufacturers evaluating the same demographic data.

Q2 data confirms the trend, not a turn

The second edition incorporates a complete fiscal year (June 30) of clinical visit data through the second quarter of 2026. Canine puppy clinical visits fell 10.5% year-over-year in the quarter, extending a decline that has now persisted for four straight years, while kitten visits rose 1.3%, consistent with the plateau the first edition identified. Combined clinical visits for the full fiscal year 2026 came in at −1.50%, squarely inside the reset band that CATalyst Council published in June.

The CATalyst 2026 State of the Cat household survey corroborates the forecast

The second edition adds findings from the CATalyst 2026 State of the Cat Report, which screened more than 60,000 U.S. households, representing 33,900 individual dogs and 26,606 individual cats. Using cats as a control group, the survey finds a real, age-concentrated deficit in young dogs entering U.S. households, independently corroborating the visit-based puppy decline.

The forecast is holding up against its own out-of-sample tests

An earlier version of the model, built without fiscal 2026 data, projected a −1.98% decline in combined clinical visits for the year; the completed fiscal year (the twelve months ending June 30, 2026, the convention CATalyst uses throughout so that each puppy and kitten cohort falls within a single measurement window) came in at −1.50%, and the canine puppy entry cohort assumption for fiscal 2026 landed within a hundredth of a point of the actual reading. The nine-year combined clinical visit “base case” forecast now stands at a −1.29% compound annual rate through fiscal 2035, with the deepest single-year decline still ahead in the fiscal 2027 we are entering now (-2.2%) as the below-baseline puppy cohorts of 2023 through 2026 reach the heaviest-visit young-adult age bands, before the rate of decline begins to ease.

“Five weeks ago, we said the demographics don't support a return to 2% to 3% growth. Since then, the newest quarter of clinical visits and an entirely separate household survey have both moved in the direction the model predicted rather than against it. That's what gives us confidence in the reset."

Jon Ayers, Chair, CATalyst Council Market Insights Committee, and lead author

The report also revisits two candidate explanations for the puppy decline, without claiming either as an established cause: veterinary service inflation, up 58% cumulatively since January 2019 against 32% for all items, and a generational shift away from single-family housing, the living arrangement dogs disproportionately require.

“Cats remain a clear bright spot. The second edition doesn’t change that story: about a third of household cats visit the veterinarian each year and closing that medicalization gap is the largest organic growth opportunity most practices have, regardless of what happens with puppy demographics.”

Gina Fortunato, Executive Director, CATalyst Council

Read the full report

“Puppocalypse, Kitten Craze, and the Expectations Reset”, Second Edition, is available at no cost on the CATalyst Council website, including all figures, scenario tables, and methodology notes.

Download the full report here

For media inquiries, contact Gina Fortunato, Executive Director, at [e-mail].

Authors: Jon Ayers, Gina Fortunato, Kristin Wuhrman, and Jane Brunt, DVM (CATalyst Council); Jim Hansbauer (Vetsource); Stephanie Crisp (Kynetec); David Kincaid (Dedekind Cut Labs).

Sources: Vetsource clinical visits by age; Kynetec PetTrak; Animalytix State of the Industry; CATalyst Council 2026 State of the Cat Report; Google Trends; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, veterinary services CPI. Forecast and methodology: “Puppocalypse, Kitten Craze, and the Expectations Reset,” Second Edition, CATalyst Council, July 2026.

About CATalyst Council

CATalyst Council’s mission is to advance feline health through feline-specific intelligence that drives evidence-based innovation and lifelong care. CATalyst recognizes that feline trends can only be understood within the context of both feline and canine trends, which is why its market insights work examines both species. The organization produced the CATalyst 2026 State of the Cat Report based upon a household survey of over 60,000 U.S. households, and issues a quarterly Feline Veterinary Market Insights Report, an intelligence series integrating seven independent data sources and distributed to its sponsor organizations across the veterinary industry. More information is available at www.catalystcouncil.org.