Walk down the pet wellness aisle at almost any pet supply store and hemp-derived products now sit next to the joint supplements and calming collars. That shelf space did not appear by accident. Spending on cat and dog CBD has climbed sharply over the past several years, even as federal regulators keep sending warning letters to companies making unproven claims about it.
According to Grand View Research, the global CBD pet market was valued at roughly $331.0 million in 2024 and is projected to reach $3,939.1 million by 2033, a compound annual growth rate above 32%. The same research firm reported that 65% of surveyed U.S. pet owners said they used CBD for their animal in 2023. That is a striking adoption rate for a category of product the FDA has never approved for veterinary use, and it says something about how quickly consumer habits can outpace regulatory clarity. Holistapet oil for cats represents a smaller slice of that market than dog products do, though industry analysts expect the cat segment to grow faster over the next several years as more feline-specific formulations reach shelves.
Why Demand Keeps Climbing
A few forces are pushing the category forward at once, and they do not all point the same direction.
Pet humanization is probably the biggest driver. The American Pet Products Association reported that U.S. spending on pet food and treats alone reached $65.8 billion in 2024, part of a broader trend of owners treating animal companions more like family members and less like property. That mindset shift extends naturally to wellness products, including ones with thin clinical evidence behind them.
Distribution has also changed. E-commerce channels now account for a large share of pet CBD sales, according to multiple market research firms tracking the category, making it far easier for a small hemp brand to reach cat owners directly without ever stocking a shelf at a physical retailer. Lower barriers to entry mean more brands, more formulations, and more marketing claims for a consumer to sift through.
Then there is the research side. Veterinary interest in cannabinoids has grown steadily since a 2019 Cornell University pharmacokinetic study first mapped out how CBD behaves differently in cats compared with dogs. That study, along with newer feline-specific trials published in 2022 and 2023, has given the industry more scientific language to use in marketing, even though none of those studies proved therapeutic efficacy for any condition.
A Market Growing Faster Than the Regulatory Framework
| Metric | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Global CBD pet market size, 2024 | $331.0 million | Grand View Research |
| Projected market size, 2033 | $3,939.1 million | Grand View Research |
| Projected CAGR, 2025–2033 | 32.69% | Grand View Research |
| U.S. pet owners who used CBD in 2023 | 65% | Grand View Research |
| U.S. pet food/treat spending, 2024 | $65.8 billion | American Pet Products Association |
Market size estimates vary by research firm, sometimes by hundreds of millions of dollars, depending on methodology and which product categories get counted. What most reports agree on is direction: double-digit annual growth, expanding e-commerce distribution, and rising interest specifically in cat-formulated products, which historically lagged behind the dog market.
That growth has outpaced the FDA’s willingness to approve any CBD product as an animal drug. In April 2025, the agency’s Center for Veterinary Medicine issued warning letters to three companies, including HolistaPet and CBD Dog Health, for marketing products with unsubstantiated claims about treating anxiety and pain in cats and dogs. The letters noted that the products in question were being sold as unapproved new animal drugs, since no cannabis-derived product currently holds FDA approval for any animal indication.
How Brands Are Responding to Growth
Established supplement companies have moved into the category alongside newer, smaller hemp-focused brands. Charlotte’s Web expanded distribution of its pet line through a partnership with Phillips Pet Food & Supplies in 2023, putting its calming and joint-health products into thousands of additional retail locations across the country. In February 2025, the newer brand Kradle launched a cat-specific wellness line that includes both CBD and non-CBD lickable supplements aimed at urinary health, skin and allergy relief, and hairball management, an example of the industry moving toward more targeted feline formulations rather than dog products repackaged for a smaller animal.
That kind of product diversification reflects a broader shift in how companies talk about their offerings. Rather than leading with disease-treatment language, which invites FDA scrutiny, many brands now market their products around general wellness support, calm behavior, and comfort, phrasing chosen partly to stay on the right side of federal drug marketing rules. Whether that softer language changes what is actually happening once a cat consumes the product is a separate question from how it is marketed.
Why Cat Owners Say They Try It
Surveys of pet owners consistently point to a handful of recurring reasons for trying hemp-derived products, even without confirmed clinical evidence behind each use case. Stress related to travel, veterinary visits, or changes in the household environment tops many of these lists. Joint discomfort in older cats is another frequently cited reason, echoing the much larger body of canine research on CBD and osteoarthritis. General wellness support, without a specific complaint attached, rounds out the most commonly reported motivations in owner surveys conducted by several market research firms tracking the category.
None of these use cases currently have large, peer-reviewed feline clinical trials confirming effectiveness in the way some canine studies have begun to establish for joint pain. That gap between owner-reported reasons for purchase and confirmed clinical outcomes is one reason veterinary organizations continue to urge caution rather than blanket endorsement.
What to Look For Before Buying
Given how fast the market has expanded and how uneven quality can be across brands, a short checklist helps narrow the field:
- Third-party lab testing. A current certificate of analysis should confirm cannabinoid content matches the label and that THC stays below the federal 0.3% threshold.
- Species-specific formulation. Products designed and dosed for dogs are not automatically safe or appropriately concentrated for cats, given how differently the two species absorb and clear CBD.
- Clear sourcing information. Reputable brands typically disclose where the hemp was grown and how it was extracted, rather than listing “proprietary blend” with no further detail.
- Absence of disease-treatment claims. Under FDA rules, legitimate sellers generally avoid language claiming a product treats, cures, or prevents a specific medical condition, since making that claim without approval violates federal law.
- Reasonable pricing relative to concentration. Unusually cheap products relative to their stated CBD concentration are a common red flag for mislabeled potency.
Regional and Format Trends Worth Knowing
North America currently accounts for the largest regional share of the global CBD pet market, driven largely by the size of the U.S. pet ownership base and greater retail availability. Asia-Pacific is frequently cited by market analysts as the fastest-growing region, though it currently represents a small fraction of total sales.
By product format, oils and tinctures remain the dominant category across most market reports, largely because they allow for more precise, adjustable dosing than treats or capsules. Dogs still represent the larger share of total CBD pet product sales industry-wide, with Grand View Research putting the canine share of the market above 65% in 2024, but several market analysts specifically flag the cat segment as poised for the fastest growth rate looking forward, as more brands develop formulations designed around feline dosing rather than simply repackaging dog products.
Joint pain currently represents the largest single application category across the broader CBD pet market, according to Grand View Research’s segmentation data, followed by general wellness use and anxiety-related applications. That ordering roughly mirrors the aging pattern of the U.S. pet population; the Morris Animal Foundation has estimated that osteoarthritis affects millions of adult dogs in the country, and a comparable, if less studied, pattern exists among aging cats. E-commerce distribution channels held the largest revenue share among sales methods in 2024, ahead of veterinary pharmacies, pet specialty stores, and dedicated CBD retail shops, reflecting how much of this category’s growth has happened outside traditional veterinary oversight.
Final Thoughts
The market for CBD oil for cats is expanding faster than the regulatory and clinical research supporting it, which puts more responsibility on individual owners to evaluate products carefully. A veterinarian familiar with a cat’s health history remains the best source for weighing any of these products against actual medical needs.
