Vitamin D and Dogs

[Angelus9]

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Can anyone direct me to some links about this?

I thought that dogs don't get Vitamin D from sunlight, but make their own, so to speak. Is this true? Can they synthesize SOME Vit. D from sunlight? Tried doing an internet search but keep getting all these links saying dogs do need sunlight to get Vit. D and I'm having trouble finding reliable information.

Did find this: http://www.2ndchance.info/birdsvitd.htm, which says (sorry about the font size):

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]'Dogs and cats cannot synthesize vitamin D-3; in the wild they would obtain it by eating prey so it is added to all their complete commercial pet foods.."

The reason I'm asking is I just heard someone advising owners to make sure their dogs get more sunlight because they needed more Vitamin D.

Thanks.

 

[Minnerbelle]

Can anyone direct me to some links about this?

I thought that dogs don't get Vitamin D from sunlight, but make their own, so to speak. Is this true? Can they synthesize SOME Vit. D from sunlight? Tried doing an internet search but keep getting all these links saying dogs do need sunlight to get Vit. D and I'm having trouble finding reliable information.

http://www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/endocrine/otherendo/vitamind.html

I guess you can say that dogs make their own vitamin D by utilizing sunlight. The inactive form of vitamin D is produced from cholesterol, and sunlight is required to convert that into the active form. You can also supplement vit D in food. But yes, for the most part, the dog synthesizes it on their own and sunlight is needed. I don't think that means you need to have your dog sunbathing everyday though. Unless dogs are kept 24/7 in a dungeon... I don't think the average dog owner has to do much beyond feed a commercial dog food to make sure their pets have adequate amounts of vit D. maybe someone can chime in about exactly how much sunlight is needed per day...

 

[Braki]

Actually, we just covered vitamins in class this week and learned that there is effectively no UV conversion in the skin for dogs and cats. They need to get Vitamin D from their diet.

 

[Minnerbelle]

Actually, we just covered vitamins in class this week and learned that there is effectively no UV conversion in the skin for dogs and cats. They need to get Vitamin D from their diet.

good to know! definitely could have slept through that part of the endo lecture last semester 😳.

 

[nuevaburra]

Considering sunlight needs to directly contact and be absorbed by skin, the fur coat on pets would definitely be a hindrance to vitamin D conversion. I have never heard of a problem with low vit D in dogs, it is in fish and dairy and I think that a lot of dog foods have one of those or are supplemented. It takes a lot to overdose, I think. According to the link below, for an average dog, it seems the toxic dose would be 3 of the big D pills I took for a vit D deficiency, or 6 or my daily multivitamins. But the second link shows it did happen once with contaminated dog food.

http://www.ehow.com/about_5057515_vitamin-requirements-dogs.html

http://www.avma.org/onlnews/javma/nov10/101115h.asp

 

[Angelus9]

Thank you, everybody! Much appreciated.

 

[Braki]

good to know! definitely could have slept through that part of the endo lecture last semester 😳.

Haha, I didn't even learn that in endo! We have nutrition right now and that's how I knew.