127 – Essential Vitamins 1 + Ca ❄

Background:

Essential Vitamins 1 + Ca panel includes Vitamin D (25OHD) and Cobalamin (Vitamin B12) – two essential nutrients that are only obtained through diet, and Total Calcium (tCA).  Vitamin D, the most important hormone in the body, is responsible for supporting the innate immune system and has a role in disease prevention and management.  Sufficient levels are anti-inflammatory, anti-proliferative, and pro-immunity.  Cobalamin is chiefly response for DNA production as a critical cofactor.  Learn more about VitD and B12 here.   VDI provides patient-specific dosing guidelines for Vitamin D and B12.

Clinical Applications:

1. Diet Changes
2. Gastrointestinal Disease
3. Inflammatory Disease
4. Cancer Patients
5. General Wellness – preventative
6. PLE Patients
7. Patients on NSAIDs or Corticosteroids

Recommendations:

Evaluating essential vitamin levels should start once the dog or cat reaches adult stages and establishes their adult diet.  Once diet has been stable for 3 months, test baseline vitamins and correct any insufficiencies with supplementation, or consider a diet change if values are considerably low.   Recheck intervals are every year once sufficient unless diet or health changes occur.