Investing.com -- Morgan Stanley released pet food and cat litter sales data for the latest four-week period, showing varied performance across major companies based on NielsenIQ All Measured Outlets data, which now includes Costco, xAOC+C, pet retail stores, Amazon 1P, and Chewy.com.

Sales growth in the pet category increased slightly in the last four weeks compared to the 12-week trends. The data showed notable differences in performance among companies, with certain brands gaining market share in both pet food and cat litter segments.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE: CL) reported pet food sales growth of 7.8% year-over-year, up from 7.0% in the prior 12-week period. Freshpet (NASDAQ: FRPT) recorded a 13.3% year-over-year increase, compared to 12.5% in the previous 12 weeks.

General Mills (NYSE: GIS) posted a 2.3% year-over-year rise in pet food sales, improving from 0.8% in the prior period. J.M. Smucker (NYSE: SJM) saw sales decline 2.7% year-over-year, down from a 1.5% decrease in the previous 12 weeks.

Mars showed a 0.6% year-over-year increase after posting a 0.5% decline in the prior 12-week period. Nestle reported 6.0% year-over-year growth, up from 5.1% previously. Post Holdings saw the steepest decline at 13.2% year-over-year, unchanged from the prior 12-week period.

In the cat litter category, Church & Dwight (NYSE: CHD) reported sales growth of 8.2% year-over-year, up from 7.1% in the prior 12 weeks. Clorox (NYSE: CLX) posted a 5.4% year-over-year increase, compared to 2.7% in the previous period.

Private label pet food sales rose 1.7% year-over-year, down from 3.1% growth in the prior 12-week period.