How AI Search Is Recommending Raw Freeze-Dried and Biologically Appropriate Pet Food: Monthly Trends

Executive Summary

September 2026 was a quiet month for the raw freeze-dried and biologically appropriate pet food category. All seven tracked brands are classified as stable, and none moved beyond the pattern of ordinary month-to-month variation, leaving the leaderboard unchanged from August.

Orijen (Champion Petfoods) remains the coverage leader across the three-month benchmark. Its valid recommendation coverage moved from 65.7% in July to 65.9% in August and 59.8% in September, extending a gradual downward drift that the benchmark still treats as within stable range for this brand. Stella & Chewy's holds second place, with coverage at 41.9% in September versus 43.0% in July. The point gap between the two leaders narrowed from 22.7 points in July to 17.9 points in September, continuing a pattern already visible in August, when the gap stood at 21.4 points.

Acana (Champion Petfoods) is the only brand whose coverage sits above its July starting point, moving from 37.3% in July to 40.6% in August and 39.5% in September. That cumulative gain narrowed the distance between Acana and Orijen from 28.4 points in July to 20.3 points in September. Instinct Pet Food shows the largest cumulative decline, falling from 13.7% in July to 9.4% in September across a two-month downward streak, though the move remains within the range the benchmark classifies as stable.

Category-wide, the recommendation-shaped answer share fell from 54.7% in July to 50.6% in September, and the valid recommendation shortlist share fell from 72.9% to 68.8% over the same period, even as the count of qualified observations rose from 402 to 413.

Each monthly run begins with 800 prompt-surface observations (565 unique questions in September, versus 571 in August and 562 in July) across the benchmark's defined AI/search surface universe. Of those, all 800 mentioned a tracked brand or competitor; 704 were relevant and 96 were irrelevant in September, against 711 relevant and 89 irrelevant in August and 694 relevant and 106 irrelevant in July. The public metrics use the 413 observations in September (411 in August, 402 in July) that survive both qualification stages.

Key Findings

Benchmark Context

The report separates the raw collection universe from the qualified analysis set. Brand-level recommendation percentages are calculated within the qualified benchmark set.

August's intermediate month saw 411 qualified observations from 571 unique questions, with 711 relevant and 89 irrelevant prompts. The following benchmark-level metrics translate this funnel into category-wide behavioral signals for July and September 2026.

Benchmark-Level Metrics

Both the recommendation-shaped answer share and the valid shortlist share declined from July to September, even as the qualified observation count rose. August sat between these months at 56.0% recommendation-shaped share and 70.8% valid shortlist share, indicating that September's dip pulled the category below its July starting point on both signals.

AI Recommendation Trend

Leadership Tier Holds While Top-Placement Rates Soften

The rank order is unchanged with Orijen (Champion Petfoods) in first and Stella & Chewy's in second, and the gap between them narrowed from 22.7 points in July to 17.9 points in September as both brands' coverage eased.

No brand exceeded normal month-to-month variation between July and September, and the category-level pattern reflects the combination of several modest movements rather than a single outsized swing. The largest point changes are concentrated in Orijen's and Stella & Chewy's top-three placement rates, which each moved further than their overall coverage figures, even though total coverage for both brands stayed within the range the benchmark treats as stable.

What Changed This Month

Orijen (Champion Petfoods): Leader Holds, Placement Rates Ease

Orijen's valid recommendation coverage moved from 65.7% in July to 65.9% in August, then to 59.8% in September. Despite the September dip, Orijen remains the category leader, with a 17.9-point lead over Stella & Chewy's.

The more notable shift sits in placement quality rather than raw presence. Orijen's top-three rate moved from 37.6% in July to 26.6% in September, and its rank-one rate moved from 25.4% to 17.0%. Raw mention presence moved from 90.5% to 86.0% over the same period.

The distinction is between presence and recommendation depth: Orijen remains visible in the large majority of qualified observations, but a smaller share of those appearances now convert into top-three or rank-one placements. The valid recommendation count fell from 264 in July to 247 in September, with rank-one placements dropping from 102 to 70.

Highest-priority diagnostic: Which prompt types and surfaces moved Orijen out of rank-one and top-three positions, and which brands took those slots?

Instinct Pet Food: Two-Month Downward Streak

Instinct Pet Food's valid recommendation coverage fell from 13.7% in July to 9.4% in September, continuing a two-month downward streak with a 1.1-point move from August to September. Its valid recommendation count fell from 55 in July to 39 in September.

The clearest change is in rank-one placement, which moved from 1.7% in July to 0.2% in September, with rank-one count falling from 7 to 1. Raw mention presence moved from 16.4% to 13.6%.

This is a small-count situation: Instinct's valid recommendation count of 39 in September sits on a base that is roughly one-seventh the size of the leader's. The decline is spread across presence and placement rather than concentrated in a single surface.

Highest-priority diagnostic: Which competitor is associated with the rank-one recommendations Instinct no longer holds, and are those changes concentrated in specific prompt categories?

Stella & Chewy's: Second Place Holds, Top-Three Rate Eases

Stella & Chewy's coverage moved from 43.0% in July to 41.9% in September, holding second place with a 2.4-point lead over Acana (Champion Petfoods), narrower than the 5.7-point lead it held in July.

The more notable shift is in top-three placement, which moved from 27.9% in July to 19.4% in September. Rank-one rate moved from 12.4% to 9.9%. Raw mention presence held closer to flat, at 54.0% versus 54.5% in July.

Stella & Chewy's remains broadly present in AI answers, but the depth of its recommendations shows more movement than its overall coverage figure. Its valid recommendation count held close to steady, at 173 in September versus 173 in July, while top-three placements fell from 112 to 80.

Highest-priority diagnostic: What changed in the prompts where Stella & Chewy's previously earned top-three placement, and which evidence sources now favor other brands there?

Acana (Champion Petfoods): Narrowing the Gap to the Leader

Acana (Champion Petfoods) is the only brand whose coverage sits above its July starting point across the full series, moving from 37.3% to 39.5%, though it eased slightly from August's 40.6%. The cumulative effect narrows its gap to Orijen from 28.4 points in July to 20.3 points in September, and widens its lead over Instinct Pet Food from 23.6 points in July to 30.1 points in September.

Acana's top-three rate moved from 16.9% in July to 14.0% in September, while its rank-one rate held close to flat, at about 0.5%. Raw mention presence moved from 59.7% to 61.7%. Net sentiment held steady at around 0.8.

This is a category-level observation about relative position rather than a single brand's advance: the distance between the third-place brand and the leader has narrowed even as the leader's own coverage has eased. Acana's valid recommendation count moved from 150 in July to 163 in September.

Highest-priority diagnostic: Which prompts drive Acana's cumulative coverage gain, and does that gain come from the same questions where Orijen's placement has eased?

Buyer-Intent Interpretation

In September, all 413 qualified observations fell into the Brand Recommendation cluster, as they did in July and August. No qualified observations landed in the Pricing & Value or Multi-Brand Comparison clusters in any month of the series. The public benchmark can currently speak to which brand AI systems recommend in discovery-and-consideration contexts, but it cannot yet answer questions about how price, value, or direct head-to-head comparisons shape those recommendations. Those commercial questions remain open for company-level analysis.

Brand Opportunity Summary

The benchmark identifies where attention is warranted; a company-level analysis is needed to explain why.

Evidence Behind the Benchmark

The aggregate metrics are built from prompt-level observations (query, surface, recommendation outcome, rank, sentiment, and citations where exposed). Company-level analysis can go deeper into prompt, competitor, surface, and evidence patterns. Source presence is not automatically treated as proof of causation.

About This Benchmark

This report is part of the LLM Authority Index AI Market Discovery research program.

• AI Industry Market Discovery Methodology
• AI Industry Market Discovery Metrics
• AI Industry Market Discovery Standards

Report-Specific Interpretation Notes

• Small-count movement: Instinct Pet Food's rank-one count of 1 placement and Smallbatch Pets' coverage of 1.9% on 8 valid recommendations rest on limited observations. Their percentage movements are real but sit on small bases, and the coming months will show whether they sustain.
• Qualified denominator vs raw collection: Brand-level rates use the qualified benchmark set (413 observations in September) as the denominator, not the 800 raw prompts collected. This aligns with how the public metrics are defined.
• Directional analysis: Month-over-month movement identifies changes worth investigating, but it does not by itself establish the cause. Orijen's placement figures and Instinct's continued decline need prompt-level inspection before any attribution is made.

Next Step

The Public Benchmark Shows Where a Brand Is Winning or Losing. A Company-Level Audit Shows Why.

Beneath the aggregate percentages sit the questions that matter for competitive position: which high-intent prompts is a brand winning, which competitor takes the recommendation when a brand loses, what attributes do AI systems associate with each option, and which external sources shape those answers. The benchmark shows that Orijen (Champion Petfoods) still leads but its top-three and rank-one placement rates have eased, and it cannot yet explain the "why" behind those figures.

A company-specific AI visibility audit maps those prompt, surface, competitor, ranking, sentiment, and evidence-source patterns into a prioritized visibility strategy. That is the step that turns the benchmark's directional signals into actionable positioning.

Request an AI visibility audit