Frequently Asked Questions
How does the software work through the Internet? Balance IT® uses your computer essentially as a "terminal" using either Mozilla Firefox® or Internet Explorer® to run patent pending algorithms managed by Davis Veterinary Medical Consulting, PC. Why not make the software a program I can download or purchase on CD or DVD? We made the decision early on that the Internet provided the easiest way for you, the user, to have constantly updated data and the newest features without the need to constantly download the software and to have a copy of the software for every computer you might want to use. For us, this made the programming much more challenging, but we think it was worth the extra effort. Why do the supplements come in a powder form and not a tablet? There are two great reasons why we make Balance IT® as a powder: First, tablets are great for a "one-size-fits-all" approach to nutrition. In developing Balance IT® supplements, we came to realize that our products would need to meet the needs of dogs that might range from 2 to 200 pounds and cats that might range from 5 to 20 pounds. Therefore, we needed a better solution than tablets which have very limited flexibility in dosing. In powder form, we realized our products could be scooped in smaller portions to meet each pet's specific needs. We decided to even go an extra step and give you not just one scoop but two so you could easily measure larger and smaller amounts. Second, tablets don't mix well with food. In fact, many veterinary nutritionists will suggest crushing tablets into a powder before adding them to a pet's food. This prevents animals from eating around tablets or getting a mouthful of just pills and no food. So we decided to reduce your work and keep the vitamins, minerals and amino acids in a powder form - we think you'll find this is a much better approach than using a pill cutter and crushing tablets. Why do some of the powders have a rather pungent odor? Purified amino acids such as sulfur-containing amino acids like methionine and cystine have a rather strong scent to humans. Pets especially cats like this odor and it helps improve the palatability of some of our products; however, that is not why these expensive ingredients are added. They are added to provide essential amino acids that would not otherwise be present when cooking with a variety of common meats and protein sources. How can just a few supplements work with so many different foods and for so many different types of dogs and cats? Davis Veterinary Medical Consulting, PC licenses BalanceIT® from a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Nutrition who spent thousands of hours creating the formulations. Working with software engineers, he has spent years developing patent pending software and testing numerous human foods to ensure that the resulting supplements had the highest likelihood of meeting your pet's individual needs. To develop the right levels for just Balance IT® canine, almost 100,000 homemade recipes were formulated and evaluated. With other currently used software, it would take a veterinary nutritionist a minimum of 24 YEARS to formulate and evaluate that many diets. This type of technological achievement led to the submission of the Balance IT® system for a patent and why you'll see the term PATENT PENDING on our products. Why are Balance IT® supplements a better choice than just using human supplements? Human supplements are just that - they are for humans. As such they do not have the right balance of vitamins and minerals that dogs and cats need. In addition, no human supplement that we are aware of contains all of the nutrients that Balance IT® supplements provide. Thus, in the past veterinary nutritionists frequently combined multiple human products together to get something with the right balance and with all the needed nutrients. Unfortunately, finding all the needed products was/is not easy and may even require the special ordering of products. Plus, inconvenient and hard to use pill cutters are frequently needed to get just the right fraction of a tablet. Even with all that extra effort it would still cost at least 70-80% more to buy the human products compared to the more convenient Balance IT® supplements. Why are Balance IT® supplements a better choice than another dog and cat multivitamin-multimineral supplement? Most dog and cat multivitamin-multimineral supplements simply aren't designed to do what the Balance IT® supplements are. Typical dog and cat supplements are typically designed to be added to already complete and balanced commercial dog and cat food. They are not designed to make up for all the nutrient needs of a dog or cat fed a homemade diet and for good reason. Adding a concentrated supplement like a Balance IT® supplement to a commercial pet food could potentially lead to over-supplementation of nutrients and adverse health consequences and is not recommended. Knowing the potential for over-supplementation, most manufacturers of dog and cat multivitamin-multimineral supplements add lower amounts of each nutrient they would like to be in the product and appear on the label. This way the typical pet lover that gives the typical dog and cat supplement to their pet won't give enough of a vitamin or mineral to do any harm to their pet since they most likely are on a commercial pet food that already has all the vitamins and minerals that they need. You can even see this difference in our packaging - we use child resistant lids that must be used by federal law on any concentrated nutrient product. You also won't see a generic recommendation on how much to give your pet because that depends on what your pet's individual needs are and what you like to feed them. There are a lot of ingredients in your product that aren't familiar to me, what are they?
*not recognized as an essential nutrient by the AAFCO Dog/Cat Food Nutrient Profiles I have been feeding a homemade diet for years to my pet without giving them any vitamins and minerals and they don't have any problems. Why should I start giving Balance IT® supplements? Most likely your pet has been conserving essential nutrients as much as possible over the years but there may already be problems that have developed. Thinning of the bones or osteopenia can occur and can be difficult to notice unless you see your veterinarian and they take an x-ray or radiograph or worse your pet breaks a bone. Other nutrient deficiencies are much harder to test for and typically won't show up on routine blood work and won't be obvious until a severe problem develops. The typical way potential deficiencies are evaluated for is by analyzing the pet's diet which can be performed by using BalanceIT® software. Surprisingly many diets that "seem" alright are grossly deficient in numerous essential vitamins and minerals. I feed commercial pet food should I feed a homemade diet? Generally the answer is no. Most commercial pet foods are cheap, fast and some have undergone years of animal testing. A homemade diet can never match those three qualities of commercial pet food. However, if you prefer to make homemade food for your pet, we believe we provide the best option short of dealing with one of the handful of veterinary nutritionists who will create a homemade recipe for generally between $135-$250 per recipe. Can we get a generic homemade recipe for our pet? No. The Balance IT® system was designed specifically to create custom feeding recommendations for individual pets. We believe that each dog and cat is unique, and thus, they have unique nutritional needs. Differences may be as simple as the amount of calories a pet needs to be fed and what that particular pet likes to eat, but even those seemingly simple differences can make a big difference in a recipe. Therefore, we have invested heavily in the belief that you will agree with us that every pet deserves a diet that is just for them. | Complimentary Tools
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Patent pending software and supplements
Patent pending software and supplements