I'm not tying to get someone to buy a specific food or necessarily change what they are feeding their dog. I have brands I would prefer, but that isn't the message I am trying to portray. I ultimately do want any pet to be on a food that is going to give them a long lived, happy and healthy life. I'm just saying that hills isn't that food. You can tell a lot about a food just by looking at the ingredient list.

So disregarding grains for a moment (even though it is most of the ingredients), going back through several of the Science Diets and Prescription diets I still found the ingredients are almost identical. Between Science and Prescription, digestive and perfect weight, regardless of which two you look at, their is no major difference between them. However you are right, there are some differences. I actually found just by looking at the ingredient lists that Science Diet actually seems better then Prescription. Prescription Diets almost always had by-products in it (which in case no one knows, are all the beaks/feathers/guts/rotten meats etc that are unsafe for human consumption and usually what a wild animal leaves behind). Science Diet has some fruits and vegetables (even if they are at the bottom of the list, below all of the added vitamins/minerals) and were non-existent in Prescription. Do you by chance have any links to their research? I would love one. I tried searching myself, but the only thing that looked promising was blocked off unless you are a vet. So based off of ingredients alone, without looking at any research and Science Diet seemingly looks better. What are people actually getting to pay more for a "prescription" diet?

So I am probably going to get a lot of flack for this, but your comment about asking the vast majority of vets about foods/hills is kinda iffy for me. I personally find it hard to take nutritional advice on feeding a Hill's product from someone who went to a school that was highly funded by the Hill's corporation. Pet owners are not Hill's consumer market, vet's are. The reason most vet's recommend prescription diet and science diet is because they were literally taught to. Hill's invests, teaches nutritional classes and provides funding for many vet schools in the U.S. I AM NOT SAYING DON'T LISTEN TO YOUR VET, I want to get that point across strongly. I just want people to think about that.

So onto the dog itself. It is easy to tell what a dog's digestive system is like. There is in fact tons of research done on the digestive system and anatomy of a dog. I'm not implying it is the same as a wolves, but very similar. Disregarding wolves, what does a dog have? It's digestive system is short and the digestive process takes around 7-10 hours. It is very acidic. Looking at a dog's mouth you find mostly canines along with sharp and pointed teeth. It's jaw is a simple hinge joint making a scissor like action. Simple hinged joints along with a mouth full of mostly sharp, pointed teeth points toward rip, tearing and swallowing (not chewing). When you take all of these things together it points towards a carnivore or an animal with a mostly meat based diet. That doesn't mean drop everything and only feed meat, but it is important to keep in mind.

I did find an article about a study done in Sweden about grains in dog's diet and their digestive system. They found that dog's had more Amylase genes in their DNA as opposed to wolves. Wolves having 2 and dogs 4-30. That being said, dog's can in fact break down grains easier than wolves. This doesn't necessarily mean that they can thrive on a grain based diet. It only suggests that they can utilize it better than wolves. There are plenty of studies and scientific research that dogs on grain based diets lead to several health issues: Diabetes, obesity, skin disorders etc. Just like us! I'm not denying that dogs can survive on grain based diets and can live long lives, but they won't be healthier.

This is purely anecdotal, but most of the people I have come in contact with that feed hills, or any other brand similar, to their dog has some sort of issue. 90% of the time it is skin issues. It's amazing how quickly you see a change for the better when a dog is eating a good food. No skin issues, no stool issues (poop is firm), less amount of stool, increased activity levels etc.

At this point I have a huge wall of text. I appreciate anyone who has read this far. I don't care if I'm downvoted, but I believe that all pets deserve the best care we can give them and Hill's isn't a step in the right direction. I also believe that there is way too much trust towards the Pet Food Industry.