Joint and Cardiac Claims Gained in China, Gave Way in the US

Executive Summary#

Get the Full Report: Download the complete analysis for detailed data, methodology, and pages of insights.

Between 2022 and 2025, joint claims went from 9.67% to 13.52% of the pet supplements shelf on a leading Chinese marketplace, and cardiac claims from 0.97% to 7.48%. On a leading United States marketplace, joint went from 22.77% to 18.17% and cardiac from 15.02% to 9.59%. Longevity claims run against the microbiome pattern, and that is what stops the microbiome finding being a story about one claim: gut health is leaving the Chinese supplements shelf, and longevity claims are moving onto it. Senior claims rose in both markets. Both markets agree that ageing matters — what differs is which shelf they put the ageing claim on.

Longevity Claims Gained the Shelf Gut Health Left#

A shelf, throughout this article, means one marketplace category — the group of products a shopper browses within. Two of them matter here: pet supplements, and cat staple food.

Our companion analysis showed probiotic and digestive claims moving off the Chinese supplements shelf and onto the cat staple-food shelf, while the same claims gained share of the American supplements shelf. Read alone, that could be a story about one claim family.

Longevity runs the other way. On the Chinese supplements shelf, joint claims added 3.85 points of shelf revenue and cardiac claims 6.52, and both stayed near zero on the food shelf. On the American supplements shelf the same two claims gave up 4.60 and 5.43 points.

Two of the four widely-reported pet-health trends are therefore running in opposite directions in the two markets at once. Treating "pet health" as a single trend hides that structure.

The same vocabulary, moving two ways

Cardiac Went From Under 1% to 7.48% of the Chinese Supplements Shelf#

Cardiac claims went from under one percent of the Chinese supplements shelf to 7.48% in four years. No other claim measured on that shelf gained more of it.

Listings behind the claim went from 165 to 683 and the sellers from 89 to 285, so a handful of large sellers cannot account for the move. The claim is being built from scratch, not taking share from its neighbours on the same shelf.

From under one percent to 7.48% in four years

Senior Claims Rose in Both Markets#

Senior claims rose on the supplements shelf in both markets: +1.73 points in China and +2.13 in the United States.

That agreement isolates what the divergence is about. Both markets are seeing the same demographic and the same owner concern. They put the resulting claim on different shelves.

Why Longevity Claims Do Not Move Into Staple Food#

Joint and cardiac claims imply a measured, repeated dose, for which a staple food is a poor delivery format. An owner can accept a probiotic baked into a bag of kibble. A joint-support regimen implies a countable dose.

That is why the Chinese supplements shelf is reorganising rather than emptying as the microbiome claims leave it. As the claims food can carry move into staple food, the shelf they leave becomes available for the claims that cannot follow them.

The American shelf runs the same logic in reverse. Probiotic is already at 38.65% of that shelf's revenue and digestive at 21.91%, and the shelf is still reallocating toward them — away from joint and cardiac.

What This Changes#

A brand holding a joint or mobility SKU in China should read that shelf as consolidating in its favour, and keep the supplement format rather than moving the claim into food on the strength of the microbiome story. The same brand in the United States should expect its position there to be contested, and build its range around the claims that shelf is reallocating toward.

For anyone reading a trend list, the test is simpler. "Pet longevity is a major trend" is true in both markets and supports opposite range decisions in each. What to distrust is the trend statement that leaves out where it applies.

Key Takeaways#

• Joint claims added 3.85 points and cardiac claims 6.52 points of the Chinese supplements shelf, 2022-2025; the same two claims gave up 4.60 and 5.43 points of the United States shelf.
• Cardiac gained more of the Chinese supplements shelf than any other claim measured on it: 0.97% to 7.48%, with listings from 165 to 683 and sellers from 89 to 285.
• Senior claims rose in both markets, +1.73 points in China and +2.13 in the United States, so the divergence is about shelf placement rather than about whether ageing matters.
• Longevity claims imply a measured, repeated dose and do not move into staple food the way microbiome claims did.
• The Chinese shelf gut health is leaving is being reoccupied by the claims food cannot carry.

About the Data#

This article summarises findings from the Moojing report Pet Brands Are Selling Gut Health as Food in China and as a Supplement in the US. Data covers complete calendar years 2022 to 2025 on one leading Chinese marketplace and one leading United States marketplace. Claims are measured by product-title keyword selection and expressed as a share of that shelf's own revenue in the same year; no absolute revenue is compared across markets, because currencies, price bases and data versions differ. Claim groups are independent, overlapping selections and are never summed. This analysis measures what products claim and where those claims sell. It makes no assessment of whether any ingredient or formulation works.