What Is A VitaminWhat is A vitamin, vitamin A sources and too much vitamin A is some of the questions you should now about, if you are one of the millions of pet lovers with a dog as a member of your household and currious about your dog's dietary needs. In addition to calculating how much food your dog should receive on a daily basis you need to understand their requirements when it comes to minerals and vitamins. One of the vitamins that is essential to the health and well being of any canine is Vitamin A. Vitamins are in the foods that we feed our dogs on a daily basis. Canines also receive a small amount of some vitamins and minerals from the grasses and herbal plants that they selectively eat when they are outdoors.
Photo courtesy of Mike Baird Commercially prepared dog food contains varying amounts of essential vitamins and minerals. You will need to look on the label and determine the exact amounts that are included because every manufacturer and food brand will differ. Vitamin A is a fat soluble, organic compound that is found in many vegetables, nuts, dairy products, organ meats and in some fruits as others vitamin A sources. Dogs can produce vitamin a from carotene in the food. This happens in the intestinal cells.Then its absorbed and stored in the live mainly. What is A vitamin best know for?Probably for its importantcy for the vision. Carotene comming from the food is broken down in the intestine to retinal. Retinal is important as the light sensitive molecule in the retina. Vitamin A is important in immunesystem and embryonic development, skin health and gene transcription. Approximately 75 years have lapsed since the problems resulting from vitamin deficiency were first noted to be present in dogs. Until this time it was widely assumed that these animals were able to obtain all of the nutrients they required from almost any type of diet available. What is A vitamin deficiency?Deficiency problems caused by a lack of Vitamin A were actually among the first to be studied in the canine species. It was discovered that when dogs did not receive adequate levels of this vitamin they would exhibit any one (or more) of these major health problems:
Vitamin A is not very heat resistant. If food are heated up to 125 celcius for a longer period this will damage the A vitamin. Of course other vitamin and mineral deficiencies can create problems for dogs. Thiamine deficiency creates neurological problems and brain abnormalities and if not corrected a chronic lack of thiamine can lead to heart and circulatory problems.There are statistics that clearly show long term thiamine deficiencies are capable of killing a dog. Without adequate Vitamin E dogs can display evidence of reproductive abnormalities, degeneration of the retinas in their eyes and skeletal/muscular problems. Vitamin A should be supplied in a dog's daily diet at the recommended levels , because both deficiencies and excess can create health concerns for these animals.
Photo courtesy of Mike Baird What is A vitamin "Too Much" Signs?If a dog is receiving too much Vitamin A in his diet it will be stored by the liver because it this organic compound is not water soluble. Chronic over supplementation of Vitamin A can lead to problems such as:
In the most severe cases, excessive long term supplements of Vitamin A can lead to heart/liver failure and death for a dog.
A healthy, balanced diet for your canine pet should include the correct proportions of vitamins, fatty acids; protein based amino acids; carbohydrates; minerals and water. The actual amount of each of these will depend upon the dog's age, size, weight and breed. From What is A Vitamin to Vitamin A For Body
|
