```json
{
"content": [
{
"type": "paragraph",
"content": "Over the past 18 months, the Pet Heart Support Supplement industry trends have been reshaped by a wave of strategic consolidation and science-led innovation. Mars Petcare’s acquisition of pet-tech preventative health start-up Upland in early 2024 brought cardio-nutrition R&D in-house, accelerating trials on omega-3 micro-encapsulation for cats at risk of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Meanwhile, Nordic Naturals and Zoetis formed a co-distribution alliance (Q3 2023) that placed heart-specific EPA/DHA soft-chews into 4,200 U.S. vet clinics within six months, boosting vet-channel penetration by 28%."
},
{
"type": "paragraph",
"content": "Consumer demand for clean-label cardio care pushed VetriScience to launch \"Cardio-Strength+\"—a taurine-free, plant-based chew using fermented spirulina peptides—while AAFCO’s 2024 labeling revision now requires quantified taurine, L-carnitine and CoQ10 levels on canine cardiac SKUs, effectively phasing out ambiguous \"proprietary blend\" claims."
},
{
"type": "paragraph",
content: "Expansion capital has been abundant: Purina’s $40m Series-B follow-on for its diagnostic supplement platform (April 2024) and Balchem’s new 52k ft² Colorado facility, dedicated to lipid-bound CoQ10 for both human and pet lines, signal confidence in next-generation, evidence-backed cardiac nutritionals."
}
]
}
```