Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Oral or injection B12 helps cats with gut or pancreas disease
By Chang, Chee-Hoon et al.·Published in Journal of veterinary internal medicine·2024·College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Effect of oral or subcutaneous administration of cyanocobalamin in hypocobalaminemic cats with chronic gastrointestinal disease or exocrine pancreatic insufficiency.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A group of 48 cats with low vitamin B12 levels and chronic gastrointestinal disease or exocrine pancreatic insufficiency were treated with either oral or subcutaneous (under the skin) vitamin B12 supplements. After 10 to 12 weeks of treatment, all cats showed normal vitamin B12 levels, and many also had improved levels of a related substance called methylmalonic acid. This means that both methods of giving vitamin B12 were effective in helping these cats feel better when combined with other treatments. If your cat has similar issues, talk to your vet about vitamin B12 supplementation options.
People also search for: cat low vitamin B12 treatment · cat gastrointestinal disease vitamin B12 · cat exocrine pancreatic insufficiency supplements
Abstract
BACKGROUND: No prospective study has evaluated the efficacy of oral supplementation with cobalamin in hypocobalaminemic cats. OBJECTIVES: To investigate the efficacy of oral or SC supplementation with cyanocobalamin in normalizing serum cobalamin and methylmalonic acid (MMA) concentrations in hypocobalaminemic cats with chronic gastrointestinal disease (CGID) or exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (EPI). ANIMALS: Forty-eight client-owned hypocobalaminemic (<290 ng/L) cats with normal or abnormally high serum MMA concentrations. METHODS: This study was conducted based on the prospective randomized clinical trial method. Cats with CGID or EPI were randomly assigned to 2 groups that received either oral or SC supplementation with cobalamin (250 μg/cat) for 12 and 10 weeks, respectively, in addition to other medical and dietary interventions. Each cat was evaluated 3 times (baseline, 6-week postsupplementation, and 1-week postcompletion) by measuring serum cobalamin and MMA concentrations. RESULTS: In cats with CGID or EPI, cobalamin concentrations were normalized in all cats that received either oral or SC supplementation (mean 100% [95% CI: 80.6%-100%] in both groups in cats with CGID and 100% [67.6%-100%] in both groups in cats with EPI). Among 37 cats with elevated MMA concentrations at baseline (21 cats with CGID and 16 cats with EPI), MMA concentrations were normalized in most cats with CGID (70% in oral and 82% in SC group) or EPI (88% in both groups). CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE: In hypocobalaminemic cats with CGID or EPI, in conjunction with other medical and dietary interventions, both oral and SC supplementation are effective at normalizing serum cobalamin and MMA concentrations.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39268979/