Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
High vitamin B12 levels in dogs and cats - is it serious?
By Henry, Perrine M N & Williams, Tim L·Published in Veterinary clinical pathology·2023·Department of Veterinary Medicine, United Kingdom·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Prevalence of neoplasia and concurrent diseases in dogs and cats with hypercobalaminemia: A retrospective case-control study.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of dogs and cats with high vitamin B12 levels (hypercobalaminemia) was studied to see if it was linked to cancer or other diseases. In this group, only a few had cancer, and the researchers found that hypercobalaminemia didn't seem to increase the risk of developing cancer over time. However, they did notice that dogs with high B12 levels were more likely to have pancreatitis, an inflammation of the pancreas. Overall, while hypercobalaminemia itself doesn't appear to be a major concern for cancer, it may indicate other health issues, especially in dogs.
People also search for: dog high vitamin B12 levels · cat hypercobalaminemia symptoms · pancreatitis in dogs treatment
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Hypercobalaminemia is infrequently reported in companion animals and is considered of low clinical significance. Recent studies have described its association with inflammatory, immune-mediated, endocrine, and neoplastic conditions in dogs and cats. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to investigate the association between hypercobalaminemia and neoplasia in companion animals and to identify other concurrent diseases or clinicopathologic changes. METHODS: This is a retrospective, case-control study. Medical records of patients with measured serum cobalamin concentration (2015-2020) and no history of prior supplementation were reviewed. Hypocobalaminemic animals were excluded. Variables were compared between groups (hypercobalaminemic vs. normocobalaminemic) using non-parametric statistics. Data are presented as median (range). RESULTS: Thirty-five dogs and eight cats were hypercobalaminemic. At baseline, neoplasia was confirmed in 4/35 hypercobalaminemic dogs versus 11/70 control dogs (P = 0.77) and 0/8 hypercobalaminemic cats versus 3/16 control cats (P = 0.53). Cases without neoplasia at baseline were followed for 409 (13-1854) days (dogs, n = 78) and 395 (28-1670) days (cats, n = 21). During follow-up, neoplasia was diagnosed in 4/27 hypercobalaminemic dogs versus 3/51 control dogs (P = 0.23) and 1/8 hypercobalaminemic cats versus 0/13 control cats (P = 0.38). Pancreatitis was more frequent in hypercobalaminemic dogs (P = 0.006). Hypercobalaminemic dogs had higher serum total protein (P = 0.014), globulin (P = 0.001), and CRP (P = 0.032) concentrations and lower serum sodium (P = 0.012) and chloride (P = 0.033) concentrations than controls. Hypercobalaminemic cats had higher serum total protein concentrations than controls (P = 0.008). CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that hypercobalaminemia is not associated with the presence or development of neoplasia in dogs and cats but may be associated with systemic inflammatory conditions, including pancreatitis, in dogs.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37438321/