Vitamin D-eficiencies

It is an all too common phone call. “Help! My dog has swallowed my ibuprofen, my birth control pills, my anti-depressants, some mouse poison…” this time, it was a little bit different.

“Good morning. I am sure it is okay but I wanted to check. My dog has just stolen a whole tub of my child’s vitamin D tablets. That’s not dangerous, is it?”

Well, actually, it could be. Contrary to popular belief, not all herbal, “natural” and vitamin preparations are entirely safe.

Vitamin D toxicity is becoming more common because it is present in several products including mouse poison, psoriasis creams and medication used for osteoporosis and renal failure.

Doses as low as 2mg/kg can be toxic in dogs and puppies are particularly susceptible if their mothers are receiving excessive supplementation.

Vitamin D is absorbed from the gut and metabolised into a chemical called calcitrol, which enhances resorption of calcium from bones and absorption of calcium from the intestine and kidney, resulting in hypercalcaemia.

(Yup, even chalk is dangerous in excess!) The consequence is calcium deposition in the kidney, leading to renal failure.

Within eight to 48 hours of ingestion, patients become dull, dehydrated and lethargic.

Vomiting and increased thirst and urine production are apparent. Bleeding can occur from the bowel and lungs. Without supportive treatment, death is possible.

But it all depends on the dose of vitamin D that has been consumed.

So we asked our worried owner to check the label of her “supermarket jelly vitamin D for children” tub, so that we could ascertain the quantity her pet had eaten. Remarkably, there was no information, excepting it contained 90 “jellies”.

We looked the product up online. No help at all. We phoned the supermarket helpline, pointing out that it was a medical emergency.

They didn’t have a clue. No one was able to tell us the concentration of vitamin D that was in a product being openly sold for use in children.

The Veterinary Poisons Information Service is a fantastic source of information for almost every accidental ingestion event but even they need to know the quantity involved.

Better safe than sorry, we agreed to induce vomiting to remove as much of the product from the stomach as possible but we were left with an uneasy feeling about the whole situation.

Personally, I was incredulous that the product was being offered for sale at all and it reminded me once more that danger lies in the strangest places.