My Dog Ate a Vitamin D Pill or Capsule What Should I Do?
My Dog Ate a Vitamin D Pill or Capsule What Should I Do?
Vitamin D is a common supplement found in many of our homes. If you accidentally drop a pill or capsule, your dog could pounce on it and swallow the vitamin in a flash. Most vitamin D supplements contain levels of the nutrient that could cause health issues in your fur baby.
This can be a problem, as vitamin D can be toxic for dogs. The condition is known as vitamin D poisoning.
Vitamin D Poisoning in Dogs
Your canine companion may not show any symptoms until about 12-24 hours after eating the vitamin D. However, he can have symptoms appear as long as 72 hours later.
Vitamin D poisoning causes a dog’s calcium and phosphorous levels to rise. This can cause issues with the kidney, heart, gastrointestinal system, or problems with the central nervous system. If left untreated, acute renal failure can develop, which leads to comma and death.
The supplement can also cause a condition called hypercalcemia, which causes an electrolyte abnormality.
Signs & Symptoms of Vitamin D Poisoning in Dogs
Symptoms of vitamin D poisoning can include:
- Excessive drooling
- Abdominal pain
- Vomiting
- Seizures
- Muscle tremors
- Depression
- Increased thirst
- Lack of appetite
- Increased urination
- Weakness
- Blood in vomit
- Loss of weight
- Tarry (black) stools that contain blood
That’s a pack of nasty symptoms your fur baby could develop just from eating a vitamin D pill or capsule. If you notice any of these signs and symptoms in your dog, it is an emergency situation, and you must get your canine companion to the vet as soon as possible.
Diagnosis and Treatment of Vitamin D Toxicity in Dogs
The vet will ask about your dog’s overall health, his diet and when he ate the vitamin D capsule or pill. If you can also include the dosage of the pill, this will also help the vet.
The vet will do a physical exam, along with bloodwork. In the bloodwork results, your vet will look at your pup’s kidney function, urine concentration and his electrolyte values. He may also order other tests such as:
- Complete blood count
- Chemistry panel
- Electrolytes
- Urinalysis
- X-rays
- Abdominal ultrasound
Your vet will be checking for specific issues, while also ruling other possible health issues.
After the diagnosis, your fur baby will need aggressive treatment. This could mean he needs to be hospitalized for up to 48 hours, so the vet can monitor and treat his symptoms.
Vitamin D poisoning can be a serious health threat for your dog; however, with fast, aggressive treatment, your dog has a good chance of coming out OK.
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This is one thing you don’t want for your dog. Vitamin D poisoning can cause your dog’s calcium and phosphorous levels to rise fast. This is why we are almost always told to keep drugs away from children and pets to avoid accidents like this.
Yes, a good number of human drugs are totally bad for dogs and it will definitely not be a good thing if they stumble on any one of them. Best to keep them where you can go and drink it and return immediately so it doesn’t drop somewhere they can easily find it.
I feel like my dog is excited when he sees me taking my vitamin pills, he keeps wagging his tail and jumping around. I’m just worried that one day he’ll try to drag out some of the pills from the cabinet when I’m not there.
Oh so it’s got a name already?! Vitamin D poisoning? Interesting. This is really a problem. If our regular vitamin D can be toxic for dogs then that means we should never let our dogs come close to our medicine stash. Let alone use it somewhere they can easily reach.