Vitamin D Deficency

Low Vitamin D Levels

Vitamin d deficency (or right spelled as "vitamin d deficiency" ) in your dog is not something you will like to experience. Being a veterinarian, vitamin d deficiencies is not someting i would which on any of my patients.

Your dog is important to you.

Am i right?

Then your dog's health is by no means a small matter neither. Just as humans are guarded about their loved one's health, so by default are most owners aware of the severe illnesses that can strike their dogs.

As well as different ailments, animals are just as susceptible to vitamin d deficency in their diet.

And what is there that is more important to the human diet than the vitamin intake?

Just like their owners, dogs need their daily vitamin requirements.

In this article, I will go into more detail about the basics on vitamin D and what vitamin D deficency in a dog are like.

Let's start with the basics.

Vitamin D is a vitamin most well-known for its regulation of calcium and phosphorus within blood, mineralization of bone, growth of normal teeth, and strengthening of the immune system.

Vitamin D is a fat soluble vitamin, just like vitamins A, E and is therefore stored in the liver and fatty tissue.

Dogs can, just like humans, make some amounts of vitamin D simply from exposure to ultra violet B rays from sunlight. A process that occurs at the level of the skin.

However dogs, in contrary to other animals, can not produce sufficient amounts of d vitamin only by sun exposure.

They need vitamin d in the food. This is the primary source to prevent vitamin d deficiency.

Vitamin D can be found in dairy products and fish liver oil and, of course, good commercial dog food.

The recommended daily requirement for dogs is 227 IU/lb of food consumed on a dry matter basis.

Low vitamin D levels can cause a number of diseases.

An important question that maybe on your mind is When should I suspect low vitamin D levels in my dog?

First off, you should be aware that vitamin D is important in both adult dogs and puppies, but much more so in puppies. Why? Puppies need bone mineralization so their bones can grow, while adult dogs' bones have reached max length.

Puppies with vitamin D deficiency can suffer from rickets and the symptoms that should raise red flags include bowing of the legs, a square shaped head, and delay or slowing down of growth.

Puppies can also have poor eruption of permanent teeth. Just as bones require calcium, and, therefore, vitamin D, so too do teeth.

As for adult dogs, vitamin D deficiency causes osteomlacia, which is demineralization of bone.

Therefore, vitamin D deficiency symptoms in adult dogs include pain, overall weakness, decreased muscle tone, and possibly multiple fractures due to weak bones.

In conclusion, it is important to remind you that vitamin d deficiency symptoms may be very subtle, and may require a keen eye to suspect any deficiency.

Low vitamin D levels are just as bad for our dogs as they are for us, and my hope is that this article helped you realize the importance and the need for a properly balanced diet for your beloved dog.

More Vitamin D Pages

Vitamin D facts
Vitamin D rich foods
Vitamin D deficiency symptoms
Vitamin D and calcium
Vitamin D and immunity

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