Reflection 2
- Think about the broader implications of your topic. What implications does it have for society in general, not just for biologists like yourselves?
- Do you also see similar concerns, keeping broader impacts in mind, in the articles you’ve been reading?
- Do expert scientists in the various fields that you’ve encountered seem to be thinking about the “big picture”? Give an example of such a case.
There has been an increased interest in the quality and nutritional value of dog food as it is the one thing about a dog’s health that owners can control. With the increasing sentiment that dogs are family members, this is even more important. Kibble has always been something that pet owners have been suspicious of as its quality could be dubious. My topic has been something that has been discussed, not just for kibble or the raw food diet, but for other types of dog food. I’ve seen many articles of similar veins to my own analyzing one or both diets for digestibility, risks, and other such concerns. Many of the articles that I’ve found discuss and acknowledge the perspective of dog owners. An article titled ‘Raw diets for dogs and cats: a review, with particular reference to microbiological hazards‘ written by Davies, R., Lawes, J. R., & Wales, A. instead of coldly dismissing dog owners who feed raw food despite the risks, call for further education on the subject by veterinarians and other experts in the field to minimize bacterial risk to the humans of the household.
Article:
Davies, R., Lawes, J. R., & Wales, A. (2019). Raw diets for dogs and cats: a review, with particular reference to microbiological hazards. Journal of Small Animal Practice, 60(6), 329–339. https://doi.org/10.1111/jsap.13000