Petco Health & Wellness Company Inc., commonly known as Petco, is an American pet retailer and health and wellness company headquartered in San Diego, California, with corporate offices also in San Antonio. Founded in 1965 as United Pharmacal Company (UPCO), it became Petco in 1979. Petco is a publicly traded company on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol WOOF, having returned to public markets in January 2021. As of early 2026, the company has approximately 27,000 to 29,000 employees and operates around 1,500 locations across the U.S., Mexico, and Puerto Rico. For the full year 2023, Petco reported net revenue of approximately $6.3 billion.
Petco provides a comprehensive range of pet products and services. Its offerings include pet food and supplies, live small animals, grooming, obedience training, and a growing network of in-store veterinary hospitals (Vetco Total Care) and mobile veterinary clinics. The company also offers pet vaccinations, pet insurance comparison services through PetInsuranceQuotes.com, and digital services such as the PetCoach app for advice and subscription programs like Vital Care and PupBox. Petco operates through both physical retail stores and digital e-commerce platforms.
In patent litigation, Petco Health & Wellness Company Inc. primarily acts as a defendant. The company has 1 tracked case as a defendant and 0 as a plaintiff, indicating a posture of defending against patent assertion suits rather than initiating them. The single tracked case, Monticello Enterprises LLC v. Petco Health & Wellness Company Inc. et al., was filed in the Texas Western District Court, a venue frequently chosen by plaintiffs for patent disputes.
The notable tracked case, Monticello Enterprises LLC v. Petco Health & Wellness Company Inc. et al., filed on November 9, 2023, involved six U.S. patents related to browser payment interfaces and in-store/in-app purchase APIs, asserted against Petco's digital payment infrastructure. This specific case was administratively closed on April 19, 2024, due to consolidation with a lead case (6:23-cv-753-XR), and no merits determination was issued for this individual filing. Beyond patent matters, Petco has also faced other litigation, including a class-action lawsuit filed in the Southern District of California alleging that the company misled investors regarding the sustainability of pandemic-driven growth and its ability to capitalize on pet humanization and premiumization trends.