Folic Acid Dose For Dogs

Folic acid deficiencies usually occur due to small intestinal disease or pancreatic insufficiency but can also occur due to chronic use of certain medications such as trimethoprim.

Folic acid dose for dogs.

Usual pediatric dose for folic acid deficiency. It is very important to also address the proximal small intestinal disease that is suspected as the underlying cause of the decreased serum. Sprue and anemias of nutritional origin infancy or childhood. Folic acid supplements sold for use in humans are readily available.

I usually add folic acid by adding a small amount of liver daily to the dog s diet. Folic acid can be given in dosages up to 5mg per day for a dog. All dietary forms of folic acid are available to the dog since it has the conjugase enzyme to break the polyglutamates down to the monoglutamate form that is required for absorption baugh et al 1975. There is a great deal of research supporting folic acid supplementation in pregnant women as a means of preventing neural tube defects.

Research on cleft palates in brachycephalic breeds of dogs supports the use of folic acid supplementation in the pregnant bitch as a means of decreasing the incidence of cleft palate by as much as 48 76. Folvite acide folique also known as folate or folacin is a b vitamin b9 used to treat folic acid deficiency in dogs cats horses and other animal species. Megaloblastic anemia due to folic acid deficiency e g. You have to be careful how much liver you give as you can over dose on vitamin a which can be toxic and have negative effects.

What is folic acid. Some investigators have assumed that dogs do not need preformed folic acid in their diets. We recommend a dose of 200 mcg for cats and smaller dogs 20 kg bw and 400 mcg for larger dogs 20 kg bw po once daily for 4 weeks.