Hello Everybody,

Great site huh?

Dr. Mercola is big on Vit D these days and getting adequate sunshine. Is this an important consideration for pets? Some pets are primarily indoors. We have 2 ferrets that are indoors 99.9% of the time. Should we be taking them out more or do they get Vit D another way?

Thanks

Sounds strange, but dogs, cats and ferrets don't make vitamin D through adequate exposure to UV like we do.....they have fur that prevents this from happening. Birds do make active vitamin D through UV exposure, but in a round about way (I have a video coming on this....it's quite interesting and involves a series of steps: oil secreting, oil exposure to UV, consumption of oil then conversion to D3 via the kidney and liver....cool, huh?).

Carnivores (cats/ferrets/dogs) acquire their vitamin D through a balanced, meat based diet. The problem is that most ferrets are eating a high carb, kibbled diet (read the ingredient panel and you'll see wheat, corn, rice, barley, etc.) that is very much not species-appropriate. This causes a whole host of insulin issues, then adrenal issues, then whole body issues. Although I believe all life desires to breathe fresh air, be under natural sun light and move their bodies through lush green grass, ferrets won't make more vitamin D3 by doing this (but it doesn't mean they won't like it :).

So take 'em outside (make sure they're in a secure environment...they move really fast when amped up!!), and wean them on a raw food diet (consider Primal... www.primalpetfoods.com ) for optimal vitamin D levels.

Dr. Becker,

Wow, thanks for the very informative response. I really appreciate it. Will be watching for that bird video

Yes, we fully agree on the diet. They have been raw for years on Natures Variety. Everything changed for the better when we switched. I could go on for a long time about the problems with kibble but I won't.

Thanks again!

Great site

Brian

Dr Becker- do you know how alpacas get their vitamin D? We have a number of alpacas and have to inject them every three months with vitamin D to keep the levels up. They are an outdoor animal, why is this necessary?

Dr Becker I have a chow welsh corgie mix he weighs 45 pounds and I was wondering how much vitamin D to give him.

I don't know....so I've set out on a quest to find out. And so far...I've found nothing. I've posted your question on VIN (Veterinary Information Network) for the large animal practitioners to think about (I'm a small animal/exotic vet :). So far the responses have been, "if the D injections work, just keep doing them," which doesn't really answer our question of why it's happening. I would tell you, as a knee jerk gut response, that either the food is deficient in D cofactors or the soil is deficient, which eventually will make the food deficient. The other concern would be that there is an upregulation of D needed in their system....but again, why is this happening? I will keep hunting...just letting you know that so far no one is able to give me any more info. I was hoping we'd have a posting from an alpaca nutrition expert we could both learn from, but so far no such luck!

This is the situation throughout New Zealand where I live. It is not just our alpacas. I do not know if this is also necessary in other countries but I suspect it is. Yes, I agree, the vitamin D injections do work therefore we will keep on doing them but it does seem strange that it is necessary. I am not aware of any other outdoor farm animal that requires these injections. How does an animal survive in the wild if they do not make sufficient vitamin D?

Hello Dr. Becker,

Can you advise if vitamin D2 in canned cat food is bioavailable or if they should have D3 as is recommended for humans?  I wrote a company recently of a  high quality, premium cat food asking why they had D2 as I had assumed it was synthetic and their resonse was "D2 is not the synthetic form of vitamin d but vitamin d made from plant extract instead of animal extract as is vitamin D3. We use the plant form in our vitamin premix."  I'd really appreciate your thoughts on this.

Don't know if this is helpful to the dog & cat people looking for vitamin D doses, but the AAFCO recommendations are 500 IU/kg of food for dogs (maintenance, growth & reproduction) and 500 IU/kg of food (maintenance) to 750 IU/kg of food (reproduction) for cats.  Kittens seem to require 250 IU/kg of food according to Dr. Messonnier's book, which is less than the current AAFCO recommendations of 750 IU/kg of food. He warns vitamin D supplements can build up in the body and lead to toxicity but this will not occur with whole food sources.