Did you know Dogs can’t synthesise vitamin D from the sun? Yet it’s just as important for their health as it is for us.
Vitamin D is both a vitamin and hormone essential for humans, cats and dogs. Without adequate amounts of Vitamin D, dogs can experience a variety of medical issues including bone deformities, rickets, even seizures.
It's important to understand the signs of Vitamin D deficiency, and the best sources to ensure your furry friend is getting what they need.
With a balanced diet and maybe some supplementation, you can watch your pup's thrive from the inside out!
Why Vitamin D is so important
Vitamin D helps regulate the amount of calcium and phosphate in the body. These nutrients are needed to keep bones, teeth and muscles healthy.
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Together Phosphate and calcium form calcium phosphate, which makes up the hard mass of bones and teeth, magnesium helps strengthen them.
Vit D also plays a role in the immune system and hormonal health.
Without adequate amounts of Vitamin D, dogs can develop a variety of bone deformities that cause pain and other medical issues.
These deformities include softening of the bones and joint deformity, along with skeletal deformities such as hip dysplasia, and arthritis.
Rickets resulting from vitamin D deficiency can cause pain, stunted growth, and skeletal deformities such as bowed legs or an abnormally curved spine.
It’s important to note that Vitamin D isn’t the only contributing factor to some of these issues, often there are genetic factors which can cause these problems whether your fluff ball is getting enough vitamin D or not.
Along with it’s role in bone formation calcium is also an important electrolyte, this means that VitaminD deficiency leading to calcium problems can cause issues with the muscular-skeletal and nerve systems.
One of the most serious problems here can include seizures.
Seizures caused by Vitamin D deficiency can be caused by low levels of calcium or magnesium in the blood.
Seizures are a serious medical issue and should always be addressed by a veterinarian.
(Fun Fact: electrolytes are a set of minerals or chemicals that carry an electric charge, they work together or in opposition to one another to control muscle contraction, release and nerve conductivity. Without the correct balance, we can have cramps caused by mussels being unable to relax, or the incorrect balance in the other direction can cause trouble tensing muscles or weakness. Some examples of electrolytes include Magnesium, Calcium, Sodium, Potassium and even Chloride).
What are the best sources of Vitamin D for my Dog?
Unquestionably the best source of Vitamin D - By a longshot is either Salmon or Carp, followed by some other seafoods such as eel,
Baked Salmon with Skin and Bones Removed: 8 to 27ug per 100g
Sockeye Canned Red Salmon (Drained): 21ug per 100g (that's 841 iu)
Fresh Carp Meat: 5 to 25ug per 100g
Baked Rainbow Trout Meat: 10 to 19ug per 100g
Dried Egg Yolk Powder: 11ug per 100g
Sardines - canned in water and drained: 5ug per 100g
Fresh Egg Yolk - Boiled: 4.8ug
Baked Brown Trout: 3.9ug per 100g
(Note: It’s important to choose low mercury fish when feeding fish to your dog. Salmon, Freshwater Rainbow Trout and Sardines are relatively low in Mercury.
It’s not recommended to feed dogs Tuna or any type of Shark.)
Can my dog have too much Vitamin D?
Because Vitamin D is a fat soluble Vitamin, it’s not as easily expelled from the body like water soluble ones such as most B vitamins.
It is possible for dogs to have too much Vitamin D in their system.
Too much Vitamin D can cause hypercalcemia. Hypercalcemia is marked by symptoms such as vomiting, loss of appetite, depression, lethargy, and excessive thirst and urination.
If your pup is exhibiting any of these symptoms, visit your veterinarian right away.
It’s important for calcium, phosphorus and magnesium to exist in balance within the body, when a dog has too much calcium it can cause a magnesium deficiency.
So yes, dogs can have too much of a good thing.
What is a toxic dose? Vitamin D poisoning can occur at amounts as little as 0.1mg per Kg (that's 0.1mg per 2.2lb) of body weight. The lethal dose is 2mg per kg (2mg per 2.2lb) of body weight. (FYI: 0.1mg is 1000 ug and ug is an abbreviation for micrograms)
As important as Vitamin D is for dogs Please DON'T give them any high strength supplements meant for Humans.
What is the recommended dose? Dose can be determined by calculating how many calories your dog needs to eat per day and how much vitamin D is found per 1000 k/calories of food. Fediaf or the european pet food organisation recommends foods containing a minimum of 138 to 159 IU per 1000 k/cal of food, and a maximum of 800 IU per k/cal. At these levels each dog will receive the best dose for them based on how many calories they need to eat each day.
References:
Mercury Content of Fish: https://www.livestrong.com/article/144173-which-fish-contains-least-amount-mercury/
Vitamin D Content of Various Foods: https://www.foodcomposition.co.nz/search/nutrient?code=VITD&order=desc&sort=value
Toxic Dose of Vitamin D: https://www.thesprucepets.com/vitamin-d-poisoning-in-dogs-4771518#:~:text=Causes%20of%20Vitamin%20D%20Poisoning%20in%20Dogs&text=It%20can%20take%20as%20little,in%20a%2010%2Dpound%20dog.
Recommended Dose of Vitamin D:
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