Pet Health: Vitamin B12 or Cyanocobalamin

What does Vitamin B12 do?
Vitamin B12 helps make red blood cells and keep the nerves and brain functioning normally. Pets with Vitamin B12 deficiency can be anemic, depressed and have numbness and tingling in their limbs.

Why pets may have a Vitamin B12 deficiency

Pets, and other animals, including humans, cannot make Vitamin B12. This is unlike Vitamin B9 that can be made by health cells in the small intestine. Because Vitamin B12 is not synthesized in the body, it must be in your pet’s food. In order to absorb it from the food, your pet’s digestive system needs to secrete intrinsic factor and to have a normal pH. Among the problems that make pets unable to absorb Vitamin B12 so that they require monthly Vitamin B12 injections are:
anti-ulcer medications that raise the stomach’s normal pH,
colon parasites, and
intestinal diseases.

Food Sources of Vitamin B12
These foods are high in Vitamin B12 are beneficial to pets that have normal stomachs and intestines:
beef
chicken liver
eggs
liver
milk
salmon
shellfish

Tomorrow, the blog will discuss another of the B Vitamins—Pyridoxine or Vitamin B6.