PERCEPTIONS OF FEEDING RAW 1

Perceptions of Feeding Pet’s a Raw Food Diet

Candace Damron

Kennesaw State University

PERCEPTIONS OF FEEDING RAW 2

Perceptions of Feeding Pets a Raw Food Diet

Dogs and cats are classified as carnivores, which means that they only need meat

in their diets to survive. Therefore, a raw meat diet is biologically appropriate for these animals.

When we think about cats and dogs living in the wild, we think of them hunting, killing and

eating their prey. Many benefits come from feeding a raw diet like cleaner teeth, less shedding,

healthier skin and coat, weight maintenance as well as a healthier lifestyle overall. I conducted

research on why raw food was the appropriate choice for these animals and found many sources

to back up my claim. To further my research, I would like to pose the question, what do blogs

say about feeding a raw food diet to their pets?

Methodology

I will conduct a thematic analysis in order to see the perception that pet owners have on

feeding a raw food diet to their pets. I would like to see how many would consider it, if they have

heard of it and what they have heard about it. I am interested in using the semantic approach of

thematic analysis, which looks people’s stated opinions on the topic at hand. I think that a

thematic analysis is a good fit to answer this research question because my research question

looks at the opinions of feeding a raw food diet and thematic analysis tend to look at qualitative

data rather than quantitative. It also looks at trends and common themes that reoccur and I think

that this would fit my topic very well.

Sample

My population will be all publicly viewable blogs on the internet that talk about whether

raw food diets should be fed to pets. This is something that is important to look at for this

analysis because it gives opinions on this topic. It will give me a glimpse into what others think
PERCEPTIONS OF FEEDING RAW 3

and how many agree with feeding this diet and how many are opposed to feeding a raw food

diet. These blogs will talk about the pros and cons to feeding this type of diet. It will go into

detail about how these pros and cons apply to pets and even the pet owners.

I intend to create a manageable sample from my population by looking at the top ten

blogs on feeding a raw food diet to pets. I will look up the top ten most influential and looked at

blogs that deal with this topic. I will be taking notes on each of these blogs and organizing them

from their rankings, 1-10. One will be the most popular blog and ten will be the least popular

blog in this sample. I will also look at this top ten list every other day to ensure that the top ten

blogs have not changed and if they have, to take that into account and analyze that data.

Each blog is different and will have different components to it. Some will have videos

attached to it, some will have pictures attached and some will even have personal stories that are

attached to it. I will look at the media all together at first and then break down certain

components. The most important part will be the personal stories as well as the videos. These

will tell more about the personal aspect and will give me an idea as to if this is why these blog(s)

are so popular to other pet owners. I will also be looking at pictures that are added as well to

analyze why they put the picture into this blog and looking at if they put a text that accompanies

it explaining what this picture is and why it was put into this specific blog.

Procedures

For this analysis, I plan to go through an initial coding process to look for the main things

that I would like to analyze and then go back two or three more times to look further into the

text/information from the blogs. I will pay attention to the pros and cons that are listed in each

blog and if they give reasonable/factual data to back their claims up. I will also look at the
PERCEPTIONS OF FEEDING RAW 4

overall opinion of each blog and try to see if the blog is bias towards one side or if it is trying to

be neutral. I will be making my theme development

Theme Development

I will be relying on my own knowledge of this content to explore the blogs in more depth.

I will be creating a list of themes that I think are important to look at in each blog. This will help

me look at if there are common points that each blog is talking about or if each blog is different.

This will also allow me to see the similarities between the top ten blogs and how people are

perceiving this raw food diet by reading these blogs. It will also allow me to see if there is an

overarching theme that is present from this sample of blogs.

Limitations

Some limitations that can will hold me back from conducting the “perfect” textual

analysis would be that my data rand is too broad and this will make it hard to see specific trends

and reoccurring themes. This type of analysis is also very time consuming and takes a lot of time

to pick out the reoccurring themes in each blog and make sure that I did not skip over anything

important that could further my research. Another limitation that could occur could be if the

analysis was not truthful to the data. The data could be being stretched in a way which could lead

to skewed results. All of these limitations could lead to my results of my analysis being skewed

or inaccurate.
PERCEPTIONS OF FEEDING RAW 5

Appendix A

Background information

o Which pet(s) this blog is talking about.

o Whether the pet(s) have medical issues or if they are healthy.

o The routine that is already in place if there is one.

Knowledge about the subject

o Is it written by a trained professional?

o It is written by a person who is passionate about this topic and has no training in this

topic?

o Has the person who is writing this blog had any kind of training in this topic?

Pros and cons

o What kind of pros does this blog talk about, if any at all, and what information do they

give to back this claim up?

o What kind of cons does this blog talk about, if any at all, and what information do they

give to back this claim up?

Bias or non-bias

o Does the blog seem to have a one-sided attitude towards it?

o Does the blog seem like it is giving each side of the topic equal representation?

o What makes it bias, if it is? Is it towards the positive side of feeding this diet or the

negative side of feeding this diet?

Examples

o What examples are given, if any?

PERCEPTIONS OF FEEDING RAW 6

o Are the examples given, personal or are they from another source?

o Are they real life examples or theoretical examples?