Oh, and while it’s true that veterinary medicine does much to protect our pets from bloody nature, I find some advancements in this area (setting bones, parasite treatments) more useful than others (inapproprate nutrition for the sake of convenience, budget, and profit). What they have evolved to eat is, for me at least, much the only recommendation… mother nature has a much stronger track record at successfully maintaining species through millenia than Hill’s or Nestle.
Maintaining the species and maintaining individuals are two completely different tasks. The species can be maintained with short, unhealthy lives if they live long enough to reproduce. Pet owners have higher expectations for their pets.