Inside Global Pet Expo 2025: Product Trends That Took Center Stage

Global Pet Expo 2025 drew thousands of attendees, featuring more than 1,100 exhibitors from across North America and abroad. From AI-powered pet wearables to goat milk probiotics and enzyme-packed dental chews, the show floor made one thing clear: the future of pet care lies in functionality, personalization, and science-driven innovation.  

But beneath the buzz of smart feeders and glossy packaging, a question loomed—are we truly innovating, or are we dressing up the same old ideas in trendier clothes?  

Let’s take a look at three trends that shone on the show floor, then reflect on what innovation truly means in this exuberant industry. 

Pet Tech: The Future is Here 

Smart feeders and wearable technology for pets are moving into the market at speed. Companies like Artie, PiFi, and Pawsync are fine-tuning the feeding experience by making mealtime more convenient, more accurate, and more observant.  

For example, PiFi’s dual-chamber pet feeder is equipped with a camera, allowing pet parents to not only feed and interact with their companion while they’re away, but also monitor their behavior for signs of stress or discomfort.  

In another approach, Artie is combining its subscription-based freeze-dried meals with an ultra-simple kitchen appliance that steams and cooks each meal and serves them warm. Artie’s diets come pre-portioned based on a dog’s weight, age, lifestyle, and other factors, which could be a game-changer for America’s pet obesity problem. 

Wearable tech, on the other hand, basically works like a FitBit for your dog. Smart sensors can track certain behaviors and biomarkers to alert pet parents to a health issue early—and hopefully long before it becomes an expensive problem.  

Take Maven Pet, a startup that exhibited in the Startup Pavilion of the show, as an example. The company has created an AI-powered health monitoring system for pets, utilizing smart collar technology to track activity levels, respiratory rates, water intake, and other metrics to enable early problem detection and support a more proactive approach to pet care. 

This tech trend is even translating to pet enrichment. For example, SwiftPaws’ CHASE!  Lure Coursing Kit won Best in Show in the Pet Technology category of the New Product Showcase Awards. The product is remote- or app-controlled and involves a motorized unit that pulls a “lure” along a pre-set course, which can be configured based on your space and needs. By controlling the speed and direction of the lure, pet parents can engage in an exciting game that encourages their dog to run, chase, and stay active. Think of this as a two-birds-one-stone solution—providing essential exercise while promoting mental stimulation and supporting a pet’s overall well-being. 

 

Focus Remains on Function 

While this isn’t necessarily a new trend, it’s definitely here to stay. Functional pet products have become central to the industry and now come in all shapes and sizes—complete-and-balanced diets formulated to support digestion, supplements that claim to sooth itchy skin or relieve anal gland issues, and even treats that deliver added health benefits. 

Digestive health, however, seems to stand out among today’s functional claims, and for good reason. The more we learn about the gut microbiome, the more we start to understand how important a healthy gut is to achieving overall health. (This is true for humans, too!)  

To support this observation, two digestive health products took home New Product Showcase Awards trophies in the Dog Food & Treats category: Paws N Chews Probiotics and Terrific Tummies by Bimini Pet Health. Paws N Chews offers Goat Milk Fermented Probiotics and Freeze-Dried Probiotic Treats for pets, crafted to support digestive health through probiotics while also enticing with flavors like Pumpkin, Mango, and Blueberry. 

If you’re fuzzy on what a probiotic is, check out this previous episode of the Barking Mad podcast! 

Aside from digestive health, longevity is one up-and-coming functional focus that could bring cutting-edge innovation to the nutritional space in years to come. For example, Vital Defense, a dog supplement by Adored Beast Apothecary, took second place in the Natural category of the New Product Showcase Awards, touting “cellular balance and longevity” benefits for dogs and cats. The supplement contains phytoplankton to protect cells from damage caused by stress and aging, and claims to support overall immunity and vitality. 

This innovation comes as pet parents look for ways to not only extend their pets’ lifespans, but their healthspans—ensuring they are living longer, but that their quality of life is keeping pace, too.  

Overtures to Oral Health 

Similarly, dental hygiene is integral to a pet’s overall health and wellbeing. When left unchecked, poor oral health means more than just stinky breath—it can lead to painful periodontal disease, tooth loss, systemic infections affecting the heart, liver, and kidneys, and, ultimately, a decline in the pet’s overall quality of life. (And if you’re reading between the lines here, it could also mean costly vet bills down the road.) 

While brushing your pet’s teeth probably sounds as fun as mowing your lawn with a pair of nail clippers, it really is essential to keeping their teeth and gums healthy.  

To this end, Paw Ready received Best in Show in the Modern Pet category of the New Product Showcase Awards for its BrushMate Enzymatic Toothpaste for dogs. The toothpaste is formulated with natural enzymes that can help reduce the bacteria in a dog’s mouth, effectively minimizing tartar buildup and keeping breath fresh.  

Mechanical chews are another good way to keep pets’ oral health in check. At the show, Dr. Allan Coopersmith, a dentist with more than 40 years of experience, debuted his durable Brush Bone, a self-cleaning toothbrush for dogs designed to clean teeth and gums as they chew. The patented design claims to scrape away plaque, massage gums, and brush teeth through external and internal bristles and nubs that create friction when in use. It also moonlights as a treat dispenser, keeping dogs engaged with the usually bothersome task of teeth-brushing.  

 

Innovation or Iteration? 

While function, technology, and science are certainly paving the way for the future of pet care and nutrition, true innovation was somewhat hard to come by on the Global Pet Expo 2025 show floor.  

Don’t get me wrong—the industry continues to launch new products that meet the latest consumer demands, but among most of these new products is just more of the same. Yes, the packaging and branding looks different, but inside the bag, not much has been truly innovated.  

As always, pet industry professionals left the show inspired—but also challenged. The advancements on display offer exciting potential for better, longer, and healthier lives for our pets. However, the true test will be whether brands can deliver more than just marketing gimmicks. Can we move beyond buzzwords to create meaningful innovation rooted in science, backed by data, and driven by a deep understanding of pets’ needs? 

The pet parents of 2025 are more discerning than ever. They’re looking for smart, cost-effective, high-quality solutions—and they won’t settle for anything less. It’s time for our industry to rise to that expectation. 

For more insights from the Global Pet Expo 2025 show floor, check out this exclusive episode of Barking Mad, in which we discuss smart feeding technologies as solutions to one of the greatest health risks facing our pets today: obesity. 

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About the Author

Jordan Tyler is the Director of Media at BSM Partners. She has more than five years of experience reporting on trends, best practices and developments in the North American pet nutrition industry. Jordan resides in Bentonville, Arkansas, with her husband and their four furry family members.