Me too and I think it's cool to understand how things work, but then there is teh gap between what they teach and what applies to dogs. I wish they would offer more classes geared toward animals. I'm feeling less lost on at least understanding what things mean since starting my class though.
Not sure how raw feeders feel about toxo and tapes and if they have any research showing that they get killed during digestion, but with the larvae and everything, can it get into the blood stream and then into the heart and brain? I know a study was done showing that tapes (I think they were T. Solium but could be wrong) can get into the heart and brain of dogs, but I don't think that had anything to do with raw meat in that case. So many questions... And in one study, the dogs who were more likely to test positive for salmonella were raw fed dogs "and" homecooked...
Seroprevalence and risk factors associated with le... [Southeast Asian J Trop Med Public Health. 2006] - PubMed result [Occurrence of antibodies and risk factors for inf... [Rev Bras Parasitol Vet. 2009 Jul-Sep] - PubMed result Neosporosis and hammondiosis in dogs. [J Small Anim Pract. 2007] - PubMed result Perceptions, practices, and consequences associate... [Can Vet J. 2009] - PubMed result Evaluation of the association between feeding raw ... [J Am Vet Med Assoc. 2006] - PubMed result Evaluation of bacterial and protozoal contaminatio... [J Am Vet Med Assoc. 2006] - PubMed result Merck Veterinary Manual
But then kibble (and apparently homecooked) can still contain salmonella and there is no perfect feeding method. Just something I've been looking into lately...