by Hanna Charron, Associate Director – Health Ingredients Product Management, Lonza Capsugel, USA
Pets have been companions to humans for centuries, but today, furry friends are increasingly treated as members of the family. Also known as ‘pet parenting,’ owners are taking a more proactive approach to their animals’ overall health and well-being. As part of this broader humanisation trend, pet owners are applying similar health principles to their pets as they do to themselves, including a growing interest in proactive nutritional support. For instance, 68 percent of global dog owners prioritise health and nutrition in pet products, and 46 percent want solutions that help support overall well-being.
In this article, we explore how brands can tap into the pet humanisation trend with innovative ingredients and formulation solutions that keep companion animals healthy and active for longer.
Health span as a lens for innovation
Most trends in the human health market eventually ripple into the pet health space. One of the most significant right now is the growing focus on health span: the number of years lived in good health. Beyond just extending lifespan, consumers of all ages are increasingly looking for solutions that can maximise their health span, fuelled in part by a heightened focus on maintaining optimal physical and mental wellbeing throughout life. Over half of global consumers believe they will be healthier in the next five years than they are now.
This thinking is now shaping how owners approach pet nutrition. Pet parents do not just want their animals to live longer; they want them to live better, staying active and playful well into their later years. As pets mature, changes in mobility can become more noticeable, driving owner interest in nutritional solutions that support joint health and movement. More than 50 percent of global pet owners look for nutritional products that help support joint and bone health as part of overall wellness routines. Together, these factors are creating strong demand for products that align with proactive wellness goals and help pets stay active and engaged in daily life. And the market is responding.
Supporting mobility and joint wellness for pets
The number of global petfood launches with a joint health positioning has grown substantially in recent years, rising from 634 in 2020 to nearly 1929 in 2024. Notably, dried dog food makes up 45 percent of global pet products with joint health positioning. This reflects a broader shift: consumers are looking for more ways to give their companion animals the nutrients they need to stay healthier for longer. This extends not only to supplements, but also to everyday feeding routines with treats and fortified foods. For brands, meeting this demand in high-volume, everyday formats brings practical considerations around manufacturing scale, uniformity and dosing consistency. Collagen is also becoming a more prominent part of this story, with global petfood launches containing collagen rising by 34 percent from 2021 to 2025.
But growing consumer awareness brings more product innovation, meaning pet parents have a growing range of options to choose from. As joint health claims become increasingly common across petfood and pet supplements, standing out requires more than a trending ingredient. Brands need to make considered choices: selecting ingredients that are backed by science, designed for everyday routines, and supported by trusted safety and quality credentials.
Backed by science
A range of joint health ingredients are available for petfood inclusion, from glucosamine and chondroitin to hyaluronic acid, omega-3s and collagen, but the science behind them varies. For brands looking to tap into rising collagen interest with an ingredient supported by robust science, undenatured type II collagen is a strong option. It works via a mechanism called oral tolerance, a process that triggers the immune system to support natural cartilage repair and promotes building of new cartilage*. Through this unique mechanism of action, undenatured type II collagen can help increase joint flexibility, comfort and function, and improve mobility.
Take Lonza Capsugel’s undenatured type II collagen ingredient for pets (UC-II® Pets**) as an example. It is supported by more than two decades of research spanning multiple species, including dogs, cats*** and horses. Brand specific studies have explored its role in supporting joint health and mobility when used as a nutritional supplement ingredient. Research in companion animals has shown that UC-II® Pets can help support joint comfort, a healthy inflammatory response and overall activity levels in dogs.
Designed for everyday routines
Pet parents want convenient solutions that are easy to fit into day-to-day life. This means brands need formulation-friendly ingredients that can be incorporated across a range of formats to suit a variety of wellness routines. Ingredients available in low doses generally offer greater formulation flexibility. For instance, undenatured type II collagen requires a once-daily dose of just 40mg, allowing brands to easily incorporate it into a variety of formats like treats and chews.
However, incorporating active ingredients into higher volume formats, to appeal to more than 40 percent of global pet parents interested in petfood that provides functional health benefits, brings its own challenges. These can include accurate measuring and dosing, and achieving uniformity across batches, especially when manufacturing at scale. Lonza Capsugel’s UC-Flex® was developed to address this. The collagen blend is formulated specifically for petfood applications, providing the validated 40mg of UC-II® undenatured type II collagen in each 400mg daily dose. This new ingredient form is optimised for the practical demands of manufacturing while delivering effective, science-backed joint health support.
Trusted safety and quality
As joint health claims increase across the pet nutrition market, safety and quality credentials are becoming a genuine differentiator. Owners increasingly expect the same quality from pet nutrition as they would for human food. In fact, nearly half (48%) of pet owners say they wouldn’t feed their dog anything they wouldn’t eat themselves, 66 percent are more conscious of what’s in their dog’s diet than they were a year ago, and 69 percent check ingredients on packaging before buying dog food. This means they want assurance that the ingredients in their pets’ food and supplements meet rigorous standards. For brands, this means seeking out ingredients that can demonstrate:
- Full supply chain transparency
- A recognised safety profile
- Real-world validation
UC-Flex® is an example of an ingredient that can help brands meet these criteria. The collagen blend incorporates UC-II® undenatured type II collagen, which is manufactured in an FDA-registered, NSF food GMP-certified US facility, registered under 21 CFR 507 for feed applications. To create UC-Flex®, formulated specifically to deliver effective, science‑backed support in petfood applications, UC‑II® is blended with calcium carbonate in a rigorous, contamination-controlled production and blending process.
Crucially, the efficacy of UC‑II® Pets is also supported not only by published studies, but also by veterinary professionals and pet owners observing improvements in mobility, comfort and activity in their companions.
Final thoughts
The humanisation of pets reflects a fundamental shift in how owners think about their companions’ quality of life. As health span becomes a key principle for both human and pet wellness, joint health is emerging as a significant area of opportunity in pet nutrition. For brands looking to meet this moment, the ingredients they choose matter. Science, formulation practicality and safety credentials are the foundation of products that will earn, and keep, the trust of today’s pet parents. Ingredients like UC-Flex® collagen blend, built on the science of UC-II® undenatured type II collagen and formulated for the realities of petfood manufacturing, show how the industry can deliver on that promise.
For references, contact editorial@perendale.co.uk
Footnote
* Animal studies (conducted in rodents) suggest that the likely mechanism of action is that it promotes normal inflammatory response while helping to support cartilage regeneration. Mechanism of action animal studies were not completed in pets.
** Lonza Capsugel offers UC-II® undenatured type II collagen in multiple formats for different applications: UC-II® collagen for human dietary supplements, UC-II® Halal for human dietary supplements with Halal certification and UC-II® Pets for pet supplement applications. Product availability and specifications may vary by region.
*** Cat research data is on palatability.
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