She says home made dog food in not complete. But then says balance it offeres supplements to compensate. Does balance it include ingredients like heart, liver and home made bone broth? This website seems like a commercial for their supplements. Not sure I feel comfortable with that.
BalanceIT Canine or Canine Plus are both multivitamins created specifically for balancing out homemade diets. Using their software you can either use their multivitamin to balance out recipes, or a combination of human supplements (as I explain in part 1 & 2 of this video series). Typically if a recipe would require more than four human supplements (most that include beef organ meats need at least - calcium, iodine, vitamin E and zinc) then I recommend a multivitamin (like BalanceIT Canine) just because it's easier. Poultry organs used in a recipe typically you will also need to supplement copper, sometimes copper depending on the cut of meat. But say you aren't using organ meats (due to availability or allergies), then a multivitamin is also a good option. If you'd like to use similar formulation software so you can use other multivitamin blends, premixes, or human supplements you can - but you'd either need to understand all the calculations to create an excel spreadsheet or purchase formulation software. Purchasing software that does the calculations and allows custom supplementation input costs thousands of dollars. BalanceIT formulation software is free.
Yeah, you can add liver, it's just not in the list they provide up front.. it does decrease the amount of supplmentation you need by A LOT.. but you still need some supplementation. I did not see bone broth either.. and I agree with you ... but adding some supplementation seems like a good idea anyway. if you get what they offer.. you can always just read what they send you, and maybe you can find a better/cheaper option in bulk somewhere else and supplement at the level they suggest.
I prepare homemade in which I learned through well known online holistic vets who know nutrition. When looking into Balance It I was not satisfied with being forced to feed certain foods or the fact that the supplements are synthetic. I have seen a few people within certain Facebook groups complain the same. I'd rather feed variety over time using an array of dog approved ingredients and supplement with non synthetics where needed.
No to Balance It. Don't like food ingredients it suggests and supplements are synthetic which the body does not recognize as real food nutrition. Problem with this is it only consentrates on making sure nutrients are met, but not the ingredients supplying them. My dog is a Carnivore based on many well known online holistic/natural vets with schooling in nutrition. Starchy carbs are not fed to my dog.
Totally fine if you don't want to use BalanceIT - but saying that the body does not recognize the supplements isn't true. Many, many people don't have the ability (ingredient availability, cost, time) to do a minimally supplemented recipe or use chelated supplements only. BalanceIT is the only multivitamin on the market currently that has formulation software associated with it's use to allow for the creation of balanced recipes. All other premixes or multivitamins you'd need to either use a premade recipe (limited options), or work with a nutritionist to balance the recipe. Also totally fine if you don't want to feed carbohydrates, but I think it's important to understand that nutrition and nutritional needs are not "one size fits all" - the general demonization of carbohydrates is not science-based and isn't supported by scientific literature. Some dogs will do best on certain compositions or including different ingredients over others based on many different factors.
@@nikkipetnutrition Thanks for your reply, but working within the medical field, befriending a Registered Dietitian with a Doctorates degree in biology and herbal medicine as well as a nutritionist within the field for 50 years now I'll go with synthetics are not suitable for consumption. Also my dog gets carbs, but much like humans starchy carbs should be eaten sparingly and not mandatory for Carnivores, best to go with low glycemic for these meat eaters.
@@christinaedwards356 Again, totally fine if you want to avoid them yourself, or for your dog. If you've spoken to friends to discuss this within the field of canine nutrition - awesome! If you'd like to further discuss with me, I'd be more than happy to review research studies on the topic/s with you to potentially provide another perspective as it's much less clear-cut than you seem to believe. Outside basic needs described within the NRC, canine nutrition is highly individual. 1. There are less bioavailable and more bioavailable supplements on the market. I believe they both have a place depending on individual needs - aka cost concerns, availability, etc. When I speak with clients about supplementation in recipes I give options and pros/cons of these options - I think that conversation is important. You can use less bioavailable forms of supplements that are less expensive as long as you adjust accordingly within the recipe. 2. Dogs aren't Carnivores, they are Omnivores by scientific classification. Omnivore vs Carnivore actually doesn't have to do so much with the proportion of meat within a diet, but how nutrients are obtained and if nutrients in plants can be converted to bioavailable forms. Dogs can make these conversions, thus are omnivores. There are many wild animals classified as carnivores that actually do consume large portions of their diets as plants. 3. Saying "low glycemic" carbohydrates are best isn't really accurate. It depends on the individual pet and their particular needs as to what is best. I can think of many reasons why a low-glycemic option might actually not be a good choice especially when we get into the nutritional management of disease.
I don't sell this product, I don't have an affiliate link to this product, and I'm not sponsored by them in any way. I often work with people looking to cook for their dogs who want to make sure they are giving them a complete and balanced meal. BalanceIT is one of the only FREE softwares you can use to formulate a homemade diet for your pet. So yes - I'm doing free advertisement for a free software you can use to formulate food for your dog (or cat). You don't even have to purchase their multivitamin to use this formulation software - you can choose "human supplements" option instead.
I just came from the BalanceIT website and in their select-a-meat menu I couldn't find ANY organ, then the wretched calculator decided to add an enormous amount of carbs, veggies and fruit and oil but minimal meat (also didn't see any raw options). So *of course* I'd have to buy all their bs supplements and *of course* their calorie counter went into overdrive and made the recipe over double the caloric needs adding all kinds of 'extras' I didn't select, didn't even ask me what kind of dog I have but it was really quick to sell me supplements for her. The site should've said they specialize in the meat/rice/veggie/supplement feeders ONLY and were organ/raw aversive. Complete and utter waste of time, disgraceful vets endorse this rubbish site (which is how I wound up there), let alone a nutritionist creating a site that says it's fine to have 165grams of quinoa to 62grams of meat, may as well be kibble with those numbers or is that the point I wonder to sell the supplement because a recipe like that couldn't compete with the supplements of commercial feed...
I had a similar experience SMH! Followed the recipe to a T...Mine turned out to be a large pot of oats with two thin slices of meat,a few blueberries, and an exorbitant amount of salt. Dumped the whole pot in the garbage!
@@marcusv7881 Internet hugs to you, you at least tried it whereas I didn't bother. What's sad is a vet tech friend I know was the one who said the vets she works with suggest it, which is how I got onto it.
I'd have to look at both your recipe, diet history and learn more about your dog to know what the issue might be. But no - your dog shouldn't be much more hungry on fresh food than on a kibbled diet if given the same amount of calories & composition. But if you switched calories or composition, or even frequency of feeding it can cause more begging behavior.
The only way you could really do this for 6 dogs is to create a base recipe that is say 1000 kcals, then do the math based on individual calories fed. You'd cook the food, then add supplements and mix them together, then portion to feed. You wouldn't be able to portion each dog's supplements the day of. Basically what you'd be doing is creating a "balanced recipe" like a bag of food, and dividing it between the dogs. This is assuming all the dogs have the same nutritional needs though (same age, activity level, no medical conditions). If they were all the same breed/weight/activity level you could create an individual recipe and multiply it and add supplements the day of, but based on personal experience, I find this typically isn't the case.
Hi Vicky my name is Jeff. I have a 2 year old Longhaired Dachshund Purebred. He’s had a long outstanding problem with eating dog food and gaining weight. But the big problem is he is a long-haired Dachshund! If you were to look at him now he’s like a lion with a shaved back. The hair on his head and his rear end is getting long but the hair in between is stunted and not growing out fast enough to catch up with the rest of his body. I took him to the vet and they have done tests on him and can’t see a reason why his hair is shortened there. The vet suggested it could be his gene makeup. Unfortunately my vet is not versed on nutrition to make a recommendation. She did recommend balance IT. So my question is which supplement in your opinion would help with his hair growth? I have just received the balance IT canine supplement. Tell me if you have any ideas diet wise to help with his hair growth. And also is it OK if I use the balance IT canine after warming his food then mixing it in? I realize I should’ve got the balance IT plus instead but I want to make what I bought work
Hi Jeff! Unfortunely I'd probably need a bit more information before actually making a recommendation? I'd need to do an analysis of what you are currently feeding to see where improvements could/should be made. Are you currently feeding an unbalanced homemade recipe? Or are you using a commercial product? Are you having to top-dress food a lot to get your pup to eat that could be unbalancing the diet? As far as using balanceIT and heating it. The BalanceIT regular if you'd like to heat the food can be added after you heat the food right before feeding.
Very simple, mash the meat with the veggies by hand. People still don't get this, but using your hand will make the difference. Try it, and you will see it works Remember to wash your hands with non-chemical soap (non-phosphate, etc...) and rinse carefully to avoid releasing soap into the food.
Typically I will puree the veggies and mix them with the protein. You also might want to consider the vegetables you are using - some have a stronger taste than others. Something like kale might not be as well accepted as Spinach for example.
