When “Science-Backed” Is No Longer Enough: Why Indian Pet Brands Must Prove Their Products Work

For years, the Indian pet food and supplement market could win consumers with a familiar combination of ingredients, attractive packaging and reassuring words such as “premium”, “natural”, “vet recommended” and “science-backed”. That is changing.

The next phase of India’s pet-care market is likely to be less about what a product contains and more about what it can demonstrably do.

India’s pet parents are becoming more informed, more willing to spend on nutrition and increasingly comfortable researching products online. As the market moves from largely home-prepared diets towards branded, packaged and specialised nutrition, consumers are beginning to ask harder questions.

Does this product actually work for my dog or cat? And where is the evidence?

From ingredient claims to outcome claims

The global pet food industry is beginning to confront a problem that Indian brands will increasingly face as well. A product may contain probiotics, omega-3 fatty acids, glucosamine, antioxidants, botanical ingredients or a particular protein source. But the presence of an ingredient does not automatically establish that the finished product delivers the promised benefit.

A probiotic strain may have been studied in humans. An ingredient may have shown an effect in a laboratory experiment. A compound may have been investigated in rodents. A formulation may even borrow its dosage logic from human nutrition.

None of this necessarily proves that the same formulation, at the same dosage, produces the same outcome in a dog or cat.

A recent discussion highlighted the extent of this evidence gap, suggesting that fewer than 10% of pet products may have undergone clinical trials specifically in dogs or cats. Many products, therefore, depend on what can be effectively described as “borrowed science”.

The lesson for Indian brands is straightforward:

Ingredient science is not the same as product efficacy.

Indian pet parents are becoming harder to convince

The Indian pet parent is changing rapidly.

The consumer who buys a ₹2,000 wellness supplement for themselves, checks the ingredients, researches the brand and asks whether there is clinical evidence is increasingly applying the same thinking to the family dog or cat.

Indian pet parents are paying greater attention to ingredient lists, sourcing, testing, nutritional philosophy and transparency. Some newer brands are sharing laboratory reports with customers, while others are making their manufacturing and testing processes more visible.

This represents an important evolution in the category.

Earlier, the question might have been:

“Is this a good food?”

Increasingly, it is becoming:

“Why is this food better?”

And the next question is likely to be:

“How do you know?”

That final question changes the economics of branding.

AI is making consumers even more demanding

Artificial intelligence is accelerating this transition.

A pet parent can now photograph a product label, upload it to an AI tool and ask:

• What does this ingredient actually do?
• Is the dosage meaningful?
• Has this ingredient been studied in dogs?
• Is the claim supported by research?
• Is this formulation appropriate for my pet?
• Is there a better-supported alternative?

This changes the information balance between brands and consumers.

Previously, a statement such as “supports immunity” could sit prominently on a package without attracting much scrutiny. Today, a consumer can immediately challenge the claim.

Marketing increasingly has an external fact-checker.

For Indian brands, this means that vague scientific language will become progressively less effective.

“Science-backed” is becoming a weak claim

This is where the Indian market needs to become more sophisticated.

“Science-backed” sounds impressive, but it can mean many different things. Does it mean that:

• Has one ingredient been scientifically studied?
• Was the formulation developed by a nutritionist?
• Does the manufacturer follow a recognised quality standard?
• Has the finished product undergone laboratory testing?
• Has the product been tested in dogs or cats?
• A controlled clinical study demonstrated the specific benefit being claimed?

These are very different levels of evidence.

Brands therefore need to move from broad scientific language towards specific substantiation.

Instead of saying:

“Contains scientifically proven ingredients.”

A stronger proposition would be:

“This formulation was tested in dogs and demonstrated measurable improvement in X over Y weeks.”

The second statement gives the consumer something tangible to evaluate.

The Indian opportunity: prove the finished product

This may be one of the biggest opportunities for Indian pet-food and supplement companies.

India has no shortage of products featuring fashionable ingredients. What is still less common is strong consumer-facing evidence demonstrating how the complete formulation performs in Indian pets.

That creates an opportunity for brands willing to invest in proper product validation.

A joint supplement, for example, should ideally not stop at saying that glucosamine and chondroitin are associated with joint health. The brand should seek evidence around the actual formulation, dosage and intended outcome.

A probiotic should not rely only on the reputation of the bacterial strain. The company should determine whether the specific strain, formulation, and dosage produce the desired gastrointestinal outcome in dogs or cats.

Similarly, a skin-and-coat supplement should go beyond listing omega fatty acids, biotin or zinc. It should attempt to demonstrate measurable changes in the parameters it claims to influence.

This is where efficacy becomes a brand asset rather than merely a scientific attribute.

“Human-grade” is not enough either

Indian pet brands have also embraced humanisation. Human food trends are increasingly influencing pet nutrition, with premium proteins, clean labels, functional ingredients, probiotics, plant-based ingredients and specialised diets finding their way into pet products.

But there is an important distinction between human-inspired and pet-proven.

An ingredient can be fashionable in human nutrition and still require independent evaluation in dogs or cats.

The temptation to simply scale a human formulation according to body weight is particularly problematic. A dosage calculation may look logical, but mathematical scaling does not establish efficacy in another species.

In other words:

A 20-kg dog is not simply a 20-kg human.

Species biology, metabolism, digestion, absorption and nutritional requirements matter.

India has an additional challenge: price sensitivity

The Indian market cannot simply copy the premium evidence-heavy model of developed markets.

India remains highly price-conscious. There is a growing premium segment, but millions of pet parents remain focused on affordability in their purchase decisions.

This creates a genuine strategic challenge.

Clinical research costs money. Testing costs money. Better formulation costs money. Consumers may not initially be willing to pay substantially more simply because a brand claims to have conducted research.

The answer, however, is not to avoid science.

It is to make science commercially useful.

If a brand can demonstrate that its product helps reduce recurring digestive problems, improves coat condition, supports mobility or delivers another meaningful outcome, the evidence can become part of the value proposition.

The brand is no longer asking:

“Will you pay more because we are premium?”

It is asking:

“Will you pay more because the benefit is demonstrable?”

That is a much stronger proposition.

From “clean label” to “clear evidence”

Transparency in Indian pet food is already moving beyond simply publishing an ingredient list.

Consumers increasingly want to understand where ingredients come from, why they have been included, how the food is manufactured and what the ingredients are supposed to accomplish.

The next step is evidence transparency.

A strong pet brand could organise its communication around four simple questions:

• Ingredient: What is in the product?
• Function: Why is it there?
• Evidence: What research supports its use?
• Outcome: What happened when the finished product was tested?

This is far more powerful than simply printing “premium nutrition” across the front of a pack.

It also makes the brand easier for consumers, veterinarians and increasingly AI tools to evaluate.

Real-world evidence could be particularly relevant in India

Traditional clinical research often takes place under controlled conditions. But pets live very different lives.

A Labrador in Bengaluru eating commercial food and living in an apartment has a very different lifestyle from a working dog on a farm in Punjab. A Persian cat in Mumbai may experience a very different environment from a domestic shorthair in Kochi.

Real-world evidence can therefore provide valuable insight into how products perform outside highly controlled environments.

Research approaches that study pets in their normal home environments could become particularly relevant to India because of the country’s enormous diversity in:

• Breeds
• Climates
• Diets
• Lifestyles
• Activity levels
• Feeding practices
• Urban and semi-urban living conditions

For Indian brands, this could eventually provide a powerful source of locally relevant evidence.

Indian brands need to stop hiding behind ingredients

There is a strategic lesson here for pet-care startups.

Many young pet brands understandably focus on ingredient stories because ingredients are easy to communicate.

“Real chicken.”

“Probiotics.”

“Omega-3.”

“Turmeric.”

“Moringa.”

“Human-grade.”

But when every brand starts saying similar things, ingredients cease to differentiate.

The competitive advantage shifts from what you put in the product to what you can prove the product does.

That is a much harder advantage to build.

It is also much harder for competitors to copy.

What the next generation of Indian pet brands should build

The strongest Indian pet brands of the next decade may therefore look less like traditional FMCG companies and more like consumer health companies.

They will need to combine:

• Better formulation: Ingredients selected for a clearly defined nutritional or health objective.
• Pet-specific research: Evidence generated in dogs or cats rather than simply borrowed from human or laboratory research.
• Transparent claims: A clear distinction between established evidence, emerging evidence and marketing language.
• Measurable outcomes: Claims connected to outcomes that can actually be evaluated.
• Accessible science: Complex research translated into language an ordinary pet parent can understand.
• Veterinary credibility: Meaningful engagement with veterinary professionals and nutrition experts.
• Digital transparency: Research, testing and ingredient information that consumers can easily access and verify.
• Responsible AI communication: Claims that remain credible when consumers use AI tools to challenge them.

This does not mean that every ₹500 bag of kibble needs a million-rupee clinical trial.

It means brands need to become much more disciplined about the claims they make and the evidence they use to support them.

The real currency is trust

India’s pet-care market is entering a much more competitive phase. The category is attracting multinational companies, large FMCG players, domestic brands and a growing number of specialised startups.

Premiumisation and specialised nutrition are creating new opportunities, but they are also making the market noisier.

In such a market, “premium” will become increasingly difficult to own.

“Natural” will become crowded.

“Clean” will become expected.

“Science-backed” will become commonplace.

Evidence could become the next meaningful differentiator.

The brands that win may not necessarily be those with the longest ingredient list or the most sophisticated packaging. They may be the brands capable of answering one deceptively simple question with confidence:

“Show me that it works.”

For Indian pet parents, that could mark the next evolution of pet nutrition.

And for Indian pet brands, it could mark the transition from selling claims to owning proof.