When Dr. Katie Gray adopted Minor, a 3-year-old Great Pyrenees mix, he weighed 132 pounds.
“He was so overweight he could barely walk,” the veterinarian said. “I put him on a diet, which meant that I had to weigh him all the time.”
However, Minor was dog-aggressive, so Dr. Gray couldn’t bring him to a veterinary clinic for regular weigh-ins.
“I thought about that from the client’s perspective,” she said. “I needed to get this dog to lose 30 pounds, but I couldn’t bring him to a vet lobby, where there were other dogs, and I couldn’t pick him up myself to weigh him at home.”
This experience inspired Dr. Gray to develop the Split Up Scale, a low-profile, portable, lightweight scale composed of three separate panels that can be used in veterinary practices, shelters, and homes. The three panels weigh less than 20 pounds total, but can support up to 300 pounds. The scale is also size-adjustable, allowing for the purchase and use of one, two, or all three panels to suit a pet’s size. To use the scale, the magnetic panels are simply placed on a flat surface, and the pet is placed or walked onto the scale.
Dr. Gray’s company, Fearless Paws, won the top prize for her presentation of the Split Up Scale at the 2026 VMX Pet Pitch Competition.
Fearless Paws is dedicated to creating innovative and low-stress solutions to help improve the health and lives of pets and the people who care for them. The Split Up Scale is the company’s first product. By making pet weighing easier, Dr. Gray hopes to help pets lose weight and enjoy healthy, active lives.
More than 60% of pets in North America are classified as overweight or obese. “Obesity-related insurance claims cost up to $90 million per year because obese animals need more care and more expensive treatment options,” said Dr. Gray. “Worse than that, obesity can shorten lifespan by up to two and a half years.”
Recognizing when a pet gains weight is an important first step toward weight management. “People will come in for their pet’s once-yearly exam, or maybe even less frequently than that, and they’ll be like, ‘Whoa, my pet gained 30 pounds. I had no idea,’” said Dr. Gray. “Pets just aren’t getting weighed.”
As a Fear Free Certified Veterinarian, Dr. Gray also recognized the need to make pet weighing less stressful. “Getting on the scale is the first thing we ask them to do, and it ends up being one of the most stressful parts of the visit,” she said. “I see a lot of puppies and kittens, and giving them a really good experience the first time they are at the vet is important because that’s going to influence their future experiences.”
Dr. Gray sees this fear daily in her role as medical director of the Humane Society of Utah’s St. George Clinic. The low-profile scale, which measures less than five-eighths of an inch, supports a lower-stress experience for pets.
When she tested the Split Up Scale with dogs at the shelter, Dr. Gray was encouraged by the results.
“We put the scale on the floor when we were taking the dogs out to go potty, so they didn’t even know they were stepping onto the scale and being weighed on their way out,” she said. “Then we took the same dogs to the traditional raised platform scale, and around half of them wouldn’t get on it. They were terrified.”
Although Dr. Gray has no formal business training and never imagined she would become an entrepreneur, she believes that her experience as a veterinary medical director prepared her for business ownership. After coming up with the idea for the Split Up Scale, Dr. Gray sought out team members who could help her bring her vision to life. “That included a design team to help me design the hardware and a manufacturing specialist to engineer the electronics and actually make the product,” she said. “We have a patent on it, so I found a patent attorney and learned a lot going through that process. It’s been a journey.”
Fearless Paws is accepting preorders for the scale, which will be produced and shipped once all certifications are complete. Orders can be placed through the company’s website at fearlesspawsllc.com.
Fearless Paws beat out two other competitors who went onstage to promote innovative pet products:
- Immuniscan, a global authorization platform that verifies animal identity and readiness at travel checkpoints via a microchip
- Passpaw, a platform that helps veterinarians and pet owners manage health certificates and other travel documents
“We were thrilled to win the VMX Pet Pitch Competition,” said Dr. Gray. “It was exciting to see the veterinary community, judges, and organizers embrace Fearless Paws and the Split Up Scale. I’m really grateful for all of the support.”
PREVIOUS VMX PET PITCH WINNERS
- Ease Pet Vet (2025)
- Inventory Ally (2024)
- Primal Health (2023)
- Mentor Vet (2022)
- Talkatoo (2021)