'Not in my dog's body': controlling (im)purity in the modern pet food system

What does it mean to feed a companion animal “safely” in an age of industrial food and rising health concerns?

In this talk, Natalia Ciecierska-Holmes draws on her PhD research to explore how dog owners in the UK and Australia navigate risk and responsibility when feeding raw meat-based diets. While public health discourse often frames raw feeding as irresponsible, Natalia investigates how owners perceive and manage contamination risks—focusing not on fear of microbes, but on distrust of industrial processing.

Their practices, rooted in a vision of the ‘natural’ dog as pure, vulnerable, and resilient, offer fresh insights into consumer-led approaches to pet food safety, care, and regulation.