Winners will receive a share of a €200,000 grant and join an inclusive community of previous winners to share and leverage expertise, best practice, and tools to drive positive social impact.

The prize was founded in 2018 based on the fundamental belief that pets and people are better together and has since helped previous winners to grow and make a greater impact on people in their communities. These include Centro de Terapias Asistidas con Canes (CTAC), who improve physical, emotional, and social outcomes for people through canine-assisted therapies.

Francesc Ristol, Founder of Centro de Terapias Asistidas con Canes (CTAC), said: “The BetterwithPets Prize has been revolutionary for our organisation, enabling us to invest in expanding our crucial work. Partnering with Purina and the wider community of winners has enabled us to build our profile further and connect with similar organisations to learn and grow together.”

The prize contributes to Purina Europe’s commitment to improve the health and wellbeing of 1,000,000 people in vulnerable situations by 2030 through the power of the pet-human bond. The commitment was launched with the aim of promoting the significant role that pets can play in helping to improve people’s health and ultimately to drive positive social impact at-scale, which Purina cannot do alone. This year, Purina is particularly interested in hearing from organisations working in the following areas:

• Assistance Dogs for people with physical or mental health conditions: it’s been proven that guide dogs can provide improved life satisfaction for dog owners and promote greater mobility and physical activity for those who are blind or deaf
• Animal-Assisted Therapies: one study confirms that cumulative exposure to a highly attached pet dog or cat is associated with a reduced risk of adolescent mental health disorders such as anxiety and depression
• Pet ownership or pet companionship support for the elderly: older pet owners have been shown to be significantly more likely to walk, have higher levels of physical activity, avoid sedentary behaviours, and retain activities of daily living levels, positively contributing to a reduction in frailty
• Other impactful initiatives that leverage the pet-human bond

Kerstin Schmeiduch, Director of Corporate Communications & Sustainability at Nestlé Purina PetCare Europe, said: "At Purina, we know there is magic in the pet-human bond that can affect positive change in the world around us. We’ve seen firsthand how inspiring and life-changing the work of our partners is, and we hope to support even more brilliant organisations through this next edition of the BetterwithPets Prize. If you’re an organisation or entrepreneur making a real difference to people’s health with the support of pets, we’d love to hear from you and invite you to join our dynamic network of changemakers!”

The Purina BetterwithPets Prize is open to organisations and social enterprises who are judged by an expert panel against criteria that covers the organisation’s mission, innovation, impact and organisational structures. Applications for Purina’s BetterwithPets Prize are open from 7th July to 12th September 2025.

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