Cat Food, Litter and Cat Care: AI Market Discovery Index

Benchmark Summary

In August 2026, Tiki Cat led the Cat Food, Litter and Cat Care benchmark with valid recommendation coverage of 63.0%, holding the top position it also held in the July 2026 baseline (60.2%). The gap to the next brand, Weruva, stood at 14.1 percentage points in August 2026, narrower than the 16.4-point gap recorded in the July 2026 baseline (Weruva at 43.8%).

August 2026 was a stable month for the category: every tracked brand's valid recommendation coverage remained within normal month-to-month variation, and none crossed the benchmark's significance threshold for a riser or decliner. Measured against the July 2026 baseline, the current data extends a pattern already visible across the two-month series: the coverage gap between Dr. Elsey's and Weruva, and between Dr. Elsey's and Smalls, has widened in each month measured, as has the gap between Pretty Litter and Weruva.

The benchmark began with 800 prompt-surface observations in each month and produced 668 qualified observations in August 2026 after qualification.

Current Benchmark at a Glance

Qualified surface breadth counts the number of canonical AI surface families with at least one qualified observation. The six families are ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews, and AI Mode.

For the strategic interpretation of this benchmark, read CiteWorks Studio's analysis of How AI Search Is Recommending Cat Food, Litter and Cat Care

Research Scope and Qualification

The public benchmark is narrower than the raw collection universe by design.

Brand-level percentages use the qualified observations as the public denominator, not the raw collection. AI Market Discovery Methodology.

Current Brand Standings

How to Read the Standings

Presence rate measures the share of qualified observations where a brand appears in the AI response at all. Valid recommendation coverage measures the share of qualified observations where a brand is recommended. Top-three rate measures the share of observations where a brand appears among the top three recommendations. Rank-one rate measures the share of observations where a brand is the first recommendation. Net sentiment is the share of positive mentions minus negative mentions among total mentions for the brand.

For formulas and denominator rules, see AI Market Discovery Metric Definitions.

Recommendation Coverage Movement

August 2026 was a quiet month for the category. No brand moved beyond normal month-to-month variation. Weruva recorded the largest absolute gain, moving up 5.1 points, while Dr. Elsey's recorded the largest decline, moving down 3.5 points. Both moves remain within normal variation.

Category Leader: Tiki Cat

Tiki Cat remained the category leader in August 2026, with valid recommendation coverage of 63.0%, compared with 60.2% in the July 2026 baseline. The gap to Weruva, the next brand at 48.9% in August 2026 versus 43.8% in July 2026, narrowed to 14.1 percentage points from 16.4 percentage points in the baseline month.

Recommendation Placement Snapshot

Coverage alone does not show how prominently a brand is recommended. Among the leading brands, rank-one rates reveal meaningful differences in first-position placement.

Smalls and Tiki Cat show close top-three coverage, yet Smalls holds a higher first-position rate at 22.3% in August 2026 versus Tiki Cat's 15.1% in the same month.

Buyer-Intent Distribution

All qualified observations in both months fell into the Brand Recommendation class. The current public series measures that class of discovery and does not yet contain qualified observations in the Pricing & Value or Multi-Brand Comparison classes.

Historical Measurement Record

This is an evergreen benchmark URL. New measurements are added to the same report.

Evidence and Source Layer

The benchmark is built from prompt-level observations that retain the query, AI/search surface, answer, brand outcome, recommendation placement, sentiment, and, where exposed, citations or attributable evidence sources. Source presence is evidence about the information environment, not automatically proof that the source caused the recommendation.

Scope Boundaries

This public benchmark does not measure market share, attributable sales, every possible AI response, organic-search ranking, social mention volume, private or sponsored channels, or causality from a metric movement alone.

About This Benchmark

The LLM Authority Index AI Market Discovery Index tracks how brands appear in AI-generated answers across the six canonical AI surface families, measuring presence, recommendation coverage, placement, and sentiment over time.

• AI Market Discovery Methodology
• AI Market Discovery Metric Definitions
• AI Market Discovery Research Standards
• Modeled AI Authority Value

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The public industry benchmark shows category-level standings. A company-level Authority Index can go deeper. The public percentage cannot identify the prompts, competitors, or sources causing the result.

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