June 14, 2021: -As homebound Americans waited out the Covid-19 pandemic in this previous year, people increasingly turned to animal shelters and adopted dogs and cats as lockdown companions.

Though lockdowns have eased and the country has reopened, adoption rates have kept shape, according to Sumit Singh, CEO of Chewy.

Additionally, it does not look like pets are being returned to shelters in high numbers, said Singh, who appeared for an interview. Chewy, a $33 billion online pet food and supply store, in the previous month launched a pet adoption service and is working with 6,000 shelters currently, he noted.

“The pets coming back into the shelters matches the rate that we saw in the year 2019, which would say that, when you balance out new adoptions and pets coming back, there’s still a whole lot pet getting adopted presently, which is great for the industry.”

While Singh did not cite any statistics, online searches for pets remain elevated, and the pet owner market is expanding dramatically, based on research from Piper Sandler. The firm reports searching for terms like “Petfinder” and “puppies for sale” are up on a two-year basis, though it began tapering in April.

According to the American Pet Products Association, the pet products industry made $103.6 billion in sales in 2020. The first annual sales crossed the $100 billion mark, the trade group announced in the month of March. The association projects that number to grow around 6% in 2021, which would exceed the historical average of nearly 3%.

After Thursday, Chewy reported results from its fiscal first quarter that ended May 2. The company’s revenues increased 31.7% to $2.14 billion from $1.62 billion a year before. Results topped Wall Street’s estimates on the top and bottom lines.

Shares increased 2% session to close at $79.35. However, the stock was down more than 1% in after-hours trading.