Which dog food & care brands do AI assistants recommend in Japan? Q4 2026
In Japan, AI assistants most often recommend Royal Canin, Hill’s and Virbac for dog. Royal Canin is named by 5 of 5 assistants.
What the data says
Royal Canin (Mars) is the dog food & care brand AI assistants recommend most in Japan, taking 22.5% of all recommendation points across 5 assistants. Hill’s follows with 8.3% and Virbac is third with 7.1%.
Royal Canin's lead over Hill’s is 14.2 points, a clear advantage in how AI shortlists the category.
ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Grok put Royal Canin first, while DeepSeek favours Nisshin.
The top five brands hold 49% of recommendations out of 38 brands named in total, leaving room for challengers to break into AI shortlists.
| # | Brand | Owner | AI share | ChatGPT | Claude | DeepSeek | Gemini | Grok |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Royal Canin | Mars | 22.5% | 60 | 95 | 43 | 35 | 105 |
| 2 | Hill’s | Colgate-Palmolive | 8.3% | 24 | 50 | – | 25 | 25 |
| 3 | Virbac | Virbac | 7.1% | 35 | 8 | – | 35 | 28 |
| 4 | Greenies | Mars | 6% | – | 35 | 35 | – | 20 |
| 5 | Pedigree | Mars | 5.3% | 28 | – | 20 | – | 32 |
| 6 | Doggyman | DoggyMan H.A. Co., Ltd. | 4% | 35 | – | – | 25 | – |
| 7 | Purina One | Nestlé | 4% | – | 60 | – | – | – |
| 8 | Unicharm | Unicharm | 3.5% | 20 | – | – | 32 | – |
| 9 | Hill's | Colgate-Palmolive | 3.3% | – | – | – | – | 50 |
| 10 | Nisshin | Nisshin Pet Food Inc. | 3% | – | – | 45 | – | – |
| 11 | Petline | Petline Australia | 2.5% | 25 | – | – | 12 | – |
| 12 | Inaba | Inaba Pet Food | 2.3% | – | – | – | 35 | – |
| 13 | PetAg | Pet-Ag Inc. | 2.3% | – | – | 35 | – | – |
| 14 | JerHigh | Perfect Companion Group | 1.7% | 25 | – | – | – | – |
| 15 | Earth Pet | Earth Corporation | 1.7% | – | – | – | 25 | – |
| 16 | Nylabone | Central Garden & Pet | 1.7% | – | – | 25 | – | – |
| 17 | Zesty Paws | H&H Group | 1.7% | – | – | 25 | – | – |
| 18 | Nutramax | Nutramax Laboratories | 1.6% | – | 12 | – | – | 12 |
| 19 | Anicom | Anicom Holdings | 1.6% | – | 24 | – | – | – |
| 20 | Orijen | Champion Petfoods | 1.3% | – | – | 12 | – | 8 |
Questions about AI dog food & care recommendations
- Which dog food & care brand does ChatGPT recommend most in Japan?
- ChatGPT recommends Royal Canin most often for dog food & care in Japan. Across all assistants, Royal Canin leads with 22.5% of recommendations.
- Which dog food & care brand is improving fastest in Japan?
- Greenies has the strongest momentum among challengers: AI names it first in 2 of 3 answers where it appears, while holding 6% share. This is the first Q4 2026 reading; change over time will be shown from the next update.
- How is the ranking calculated?
- We ask each AI assistant the questions shoppers ask in each category and market, record the top five brands it names, and give 35, 25, 20, 12 and 8 points for positions one to five. Share is a brand's points divided by all points awarded.
Dog: AI rankings by country
Covers: Dog Food, Dog Health, Dog Treats.
Method: each AI assistant is asked the shopper questions for every segment in the category and market; the top five brands named score 35, 25, 20, 12 and 8 points. Share is a brand's points divided by all points awarded. Rankings reflect AI answers, not sales.
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