Pets at Home has added Years, a fresh dog food brand built around recognisable ingredients and straightforward storage, to its growing nutrition offer as it looks to capitalise on pet owners' increasing appetite for food that feels closer to what they might buy for themselves. The Nottinghamshire-based range is being sold across the retailer's 460 UK stores and online, according to trade reports on the partnership.

The launch reflects a wider shift in pet care towards so-called human-style nutrition, with shoppers placing more weight on transparency, ingredient quality and less processed recipes. Years says its meals are gently steamed to help preserve nutrients, moisture and flavour, while remaining shelf-stable enough to keep in a cupboard for up to 12 months and in the fridge for seven days after opening. The brand's range includes complete meals, bone broths, toppers, treats and chef-made specials, giving owners the option of using it as a full diet or as part of a mixed feeding routine. Pets at Home said its store teams would help customers choose products suited to their animals' needs, while Years founder Darren Beale said the partnership would make it easier for dog owners to buy real food without complicating feeding time.

The move adds another strand to Pets at Home's broader push into premium nutrition. The retailer has also been expanding its own-label and partner-led food ranges, including Ruff's Recipes, a British home-cooking-inspired line, and an exclusive tie-up with Nulo, a premium brand focused on high-protein, low-carbohydrate products. It has also deepened its supply links with Cranswick, which is set to provide dry dog food for the retailer, underlining how important pet food has become to its business. With the UK pet food market still dominated by demand for convenience but increasingly shaped by concerns about processing and ingredient provenance, the launch gives Pets at Home another way to position itself as a destination not just for products, but for advice and nutrition-led choice. For Years, the deal offers a national retail platform at a time when premium, shelf-stable fresh food is becoming more mainstream.

Lily’s Kitchen has passed £100 million in annual sales for the first time, a milestone that underlines how far the natural pet food brand has come since it was founded in 2008. The company said its 2025 performance was driven by stronger distribution in UK grocery and specialist channels, growth in direct-to-consumer and ecommerce sales, expansion into overseas markets and new product launches, including an updated cat menu and a new texture for its Ultimate Chicken Stews range.

Chief executive Giorgio Vesprini said the result reflected a year of volume-led growth and deeper listings at Tesco, Waitrose, Sainsbury’s and Co-op. He also pointed to a backdrop of rising consumer interest in pet nutrition, as more owners look for meals made with proper meat and natural ingredients.

The achievement comes several years after Nestlé Purina PetCare bought Lily’s Kitchen in 2020, when the brand was already described as an £85 million retail business with sales across thousands of stores in dozens of countries. The acquisition was intended to support further expansion in a fast-growing premium segment of the pet care market.

Alongside commercial growth, Lily’s Kitchen has continued to emphasise its ethical credentials. The company said it achieved its highest-ever B Corp score of 102 in its latest recertification, a rating it says reflects its commitment to balancing profit with wider social and environmental impact.

Yorkshire Raw Feeds has been acquired by The Nutriment Company, extending the Swedish-headquartered pet food group’s reach in the UK’s fast-expanding raw food market. The Leeds-based business, which operates from Farnley, has built its name on DEFRA-approved raw pet food and natural treats, and the deal adds another regional brand with a loyal customer base to TNC’s portfolio.

Founded by James Glover and James McVeigh, Yorkshire Raw Feeds grew out of a poultry processing background and developed alongside rising demand for raw feeding products. Industry coverage says the company specialises in raw pet food in chub format and also offers private label manufacturing, giving it a foothold with independent pet retailers across Yorkshire and nearby areas.

TNC said the purchase strengthens its position in the affordable raw segment, which it described as one of the fastest-growing parts of the market. The group, backed by Nordic private equity firm Axcel, has been on an acquisition drive across the UK and mainland Europe, with recent additions including The Dog’s Butcher in Britain and several pet food businesses in Germany and Poland.

James Glover will stay with the business to support its next phase under TNC ownership. He said: "The sale and purchase of Yorkshire Raw Feeds marks an exciting new chapter for the business and will enable us to build on the success we have achieved over many years." Blacks Solicitors advised the shareholders on the transaction, with Rebecca Holden leading the deal.

Tuggs has taken its first step into bricks-and-mortar retail after striking a nationwide partnership with Jollyes, giving the dog food start-up a physical presence in stores from Edinburgh to Hailsham. The move marks a significant shift for a business that began as an online subscription service and has already supplied around 10,000 pet owners across the UK.

Founded by Harry Bremner in late 2022, Tuggs was built around concerns over the environmental impact and nutritional quality of mass-market pet food. The company develops its meals with natural ingredients and worked with vet nutritionist Katie McCaul on the range. Bremner said the new listing would allow customers to try the product without signing up to a subscription, while stressing that the direct-to-consumer model remains central to the brand.

The launch comes as Jollyes continues to broaden its offer and sharpen its position in the pet retail market. The chain has recently expanded its own-label value range, Simply Jollyes, which it said was designed to be among the cheapest pet brands in the UK, and it has also added new senior hires to support national growth. Pet Gazette has previously reported a string of category extensions and brand partnerships for Jollyes, including launches from Buffalo Co. and DotDotPet, underlining the retailer’s push to widen its shelves with both value-led and innovation-led products.

For Tuggs, the listing is likely to serve as both a sales channel and a brand-building exercise, exposing the fresh meal range to shoppers who may not be ready to commit online. Bremner described the partnership as a major milestone for the company, adding that customers had long wanted an easier way to sample the food or top up between deliveries.

The Pet Industry Federation has launched a new screening tool aimed at helping pet businesses judge whether wording in adverts for supplements and other non-medicinal veterinary products could cross the line into medicinal claims. The GARD system, which stands for Guidance for Advertising, Review and Drafting, is intended to give manufacturers, brand owners, marketers, technical teams and compliance staff a more structured way to assess packaging, leaflets, websites and testimonials before they go live. According to the federation, the framework is built around the principle that such products should be described as supporting or maintaining health in healthy animals, rather than as treating or preventing disease.

The launch comes against a sharper regulatory backdrop after the Veterinary Medicines Directorate issued updated guidance on advertising non-medicinal veterinary products on 14 January 2026. The regulator said the law itself had not changed, but that its new material was meant to address recurring misunderstandings about claims for products used in, on or near animals, including feeds, supplements, topical hygiene products, bedding and behavioural products. The VMD also set out the distinction between medicinal claims made by presentation and those made by function, alongside guidance on testimonials, reviews and educational content.

PIF says GARD is designed to help users review words both individually and in combination, using a Green, Amber, Amber-Red and Red rating structure to flag how risky particular language may be across different channels. Nigel Baker, the federation's chief executive, said the tool was developed to help businesses deal with an area that can be difficult to interpret in practice, and to support better decision-making across the pet sector.

The tool is available through PIF, free to members and priced at £150 plus VAT for non-members. In practice, its arrival reflects a wider push across the animal health sector to tighten promotional standards, with regulators in the UK and the US alike emphasising that marketing must stay truthful, balanced and non-misleading when products sit close to the boundary between wellness and medicine.

Tails.com has unveiled a new premium wet food line for dogs as part of a wider refresh of its subscription offering, replacing its Optimum Care range with a more protein-led, single-source recipe set aimed at owners looking for greater transparency and more tailored nutrition.

According to the company, the Premium Wet Food range consists of five recipes sold in two tray sizes, creating 10 stock-keeping units in all. The meals are built around chicken, turkey, lamb, beef or duck at 65% inclusion, and are grain-free, with added fruit and vegetables. Tails.com says the recipes also include functional ingredients such as chicory root powder, green-lipped mussel and salmon oil, which it says are intended to support digestion, joints, skin and coat health.

The new lineup includes Juicy Chicken with Butternut Squash & Kale, Rustic Beef with Pumpkin & Broccoli, Succulent Turkey with Apple & Swede, Aromatic Lamb with Parsnip & Courgette and Tender Duck with Sweet Potato & Cranberry. The first four recipes are suitable for dogs from eight weeks old, while the duck variant is for adult dogs only. Prices are set at 95p for a 150g tray and £1.65 for a 300g tray.

Tracey Britton, Tails.com’s head of range innovation, said the launch “raises the bar for what wet food can achieve”, adding that it was driven by customer demand for “more choice, greater transparency and recipes that support their dog’s wellbeing”. The rollout comes shortly after the company reformulated its Classic Wet Food range in April to improve nutritional value while keeping the meals palatable, and follows earlier moves by Tails.com to broaden its wet food portfolio with grain-free and hypoallergenic options.

The pet food market is expanding as owners place greater emphasis on nutrition, wellness and the long-term health of companion animals. What was once a category dominated by basic feed is increasingly being shaped by premium products, functional ingredients and tailored diets for dogs, cats and other pets. As SkyQuest Technology notes, the sector now spans dry and wet food, treats, supplements and specialist formulations, with consumer demand increasingly influenced by the same values that guide human food choices.

According to FoodNavigator, the global market is expected to continue its upward trajectory, reaching $161.72 billion by 2026, with growth still projected through 2030. That momentum is being driven by rising pet ownership, higher spending on animal care and the continuing "humanisation" of pets, in which animals are treated as family members rather than mere companions. That shift has encouraged demand for natural, organic and more personalised products that promise wellness benefits as well as basic nutrition.

Premiumisation is also reshaping product development. Pet Food Processing reports growing interest in fresh, gently cooked, freeze-dried raw, air-dried and baked foods, formats that many owners regard as closer to whole-food nutrition and less heavily processed than conventional kibble. The same report says a sizeable share of consumers associate baked pet food with better nutrition and cleaner ingredients, underscoring how strongly perceptions of quality now influence purchasing decisions.

At the upper end of the market, human-grade pet food is emerging as a particularly fast-growing niche. Grand View Research says the category is forecast to reach $3.77 billion by 2030, reflecting owners' appetite for safer, higher-quality products made with transparent sourcing and fewer artificial additives. A separate report from Claritas Intelligence points to a broader luxury pet food segment that could reach $46.93 billion by 2033, driven by clean-label claims, organic ingredients and AI-led personalisation. Industry commentary also suggests that fresh pet food is growing faster than the wider market, even as many shoppers continue to balance premium ambitions with affordability.

Despite the optimism, the industry still faces familiar pressures. Fluctuating costs for meat, grains and other inputs can squeeze margins, while manufacturers must contend with demanding safety, labelling and compliance rules. Product recalls remain a persistent risk, especially in a category where trust is central to brand loyalty. Even so, the competitive landscape remains active, with major players such as Mars, Nestlé, Hill's Pet Nutrition, The J.M. Smucker Company and General Mills investing in innovation, sustainable sourcing and direct-to-consumer sales to secure a larger share of a market that continues to be reshaped by pet owners' changing expectations.