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Zoetis makes medicines and vaccines for pets and farm animals.
Zoetis is the world's biggest animal health company, and it makes money in two main ways: selling medicines, vaccines, and tests for pets like dogs and cats, and selling similar products for farm animals like cattle, pigs, and poultry. Pets are the bigger and faster-growing part of the business, now roughly two-thirds of revenue, while livestock makes up the rest. The customers are not pet owners directly — they're veterinarians, clinics, and farmers who buy through distributors. Think of it as the Pfizer of the animal world: it sells the pills, shots, and tools that vets and farmers rely on to keep animals healthy and productive.
About 60% of its roughly $9.3 billion in annual revenue comes from pets, where people increasingly treat dogs and cats like family and are willing to pay for arthritis relief, allergy treatments, and cancer care. Its blockbuster products include Apoquel and Cytopoint for itchy dogs, Simparica for fleas and ticks, and the osteoarthritis shot Librela, which launched recently and is a big bet for future growth. The livestock side sells vaccines and medicines that help farmers raise more animals with less sickness. Zoetis also runs a smaller diagnostics and genetics business, giving vets testing machines and tools alongside its drugs.
Zoetis was spun off from Pfizer in 2013 and has been a steady cash machine since, generating strong free cash flow. It uses that cash to pay dividends, buy back its own stock, and snap up smaller companies to expand into fast-growing areas like pet diagnostics and pain relief. The main risks are competition from cheaper generic animal drugs, slower farm spending, and the fact that a single blockbuster pet drug losing patent protection could sting. Still, with pets living longer and owners spending more on them, Zoetis sits in a durable, unglamorous but reliable corner of healthcare.
Saved answer · last researched 15 Oct 2026