A cat’s investigation into what makes a pet website actually easy to use

Hello, humans. It is I, Simmba, Raja of the House, professional biscuit-maker, and apparently now a UX consultant. 🐈‍⬛

My human asked me to investigate something important: what makes a pet website easy to use?

So naturally, I inspected five pet websites: Chewy, Petco, PetSmart, PetMeds, and Zooplus.

And yes I did this from a cat’s perspective. Because if a website is confusing to a human, imagine how offended I am.

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🐾 1. Chewy: Make finding things easier

Chewy has a range of pet products, which is useful when humans need food, toys, medicine, litter, treats, and approximately 47 things their pets “need.”

UX research has found that Chewy performs strongly overall, but large pet websites can still create navigation challenges because there are so many products and categories.

Simmba’s UX lesson:

More products are helpful. More confusion is not.

A good pet website needs clear navigation, useful filters and search tools that help humans find what their pet actually needs without sending them on a digital treasure hunt.

🐾 2. Petco: Don’t make humans work too hard

Petco offers products, services and pet-care information, but UX research has identified navigation and information overload as areas that can make the experience harder to use. One UX case study found that users could have different expectations about where products belonged, making navigation less intuitive.

Simmba’s UX lesson:
If humans have to stop and think, “Where would they put this?” the website has already made them do too much work.

Good information architecture should match the way customers naturally think about their pets and their needs.

🐾 3. PetSmart: Help humans find what they need

PetSmart is another example of a large pet retailer where usability matters because customers may be searching for everything from food to toys and services.

Recent UX research across major pet websites found that being able to narrow search results easily is one of the important drivers of a positive experience.

Simmba’s UX lesson:
Filters are not decoration.

If I want tuxedo-cat-approved treats, I should be able to narrow the results instead of scrolling through seventeen pages of things I would never eat.

Actually, make that sixteen pages. I might eat one.

🐾 4. PetMeds: Trust matters

PetMeds demonstrates another important part of pet UX: trust.

When humans are looking for medication or health-related products for their pets, they need clear information and a straightforward experience. Recent research into pet websites identified trust in product safety as one of the significant drivers of UX quality.

Simmba’s UX lesson:
When something affects my health, humans should not have to guess.

Clear product information, transparent processes and easy-to-understand instructions can make a website feel more trustworthy.

🐾 5. Zooplus: Pet ecommerce is still ecommerce

Baymard’s 2025 Pet Food & Care benchmark examined seven major pet ecommerce websites, including Zooplus, across more than 480 UX parameters. The research highlights how things such as product lists, filtering, search, product pages and checkout all contribute to the overall experience.

Simmba’s UX lesson:
Being a pet website doesn’t excuse bad ecommerce UX.

Humans still need to search, compare, understand, purchase and check out without unnecessary friction.

🐾 What Simmba Learned

After investigating these websites, I have reached one important conclusion:

Pet websites should not just look like pet websites. They should work like good websites.

Cute animals are excellent. I personally approve. 🐾

But good UX goes further.

A strong pet website should make it easy to:

• Find the right product
• Understand what it does
• Narrow down choices
• Compare options
• Trust the information
• Complete the purchase
• Get help when something goes wrong

And accessibility matters too. Chewy and Petco both publicly describe efforts toward WCAG 2.1 Level AA accessibility, including keyboard access, screen-reader support and consistent site structures.

So my final professional opinion?

Humans may own the websites, but pets are the users behind the users.

If a website helps a human make a better decision for their pet, that is good UX.

Now, please excuse me.

I have UX research to conduct in the treat cupboard.

Simmba out. 🐈‍⬛