B6 Insufficiency

Caryll · #1 07-12-11, 08:13 PM

I don't know if anyone can help. Pneuma (the GSD I looked after for a couple of months a while back) has been losing weight recently for no reason. She was ok in herself, just losing weight. Fearing cancer, my boss took her to the vets. After various tests the vets have said that it's an inability to provess vitamin B6 and her small intestines cannot process food properly because of that. The vet is trying to find a food that can be digested solely in the large intestines, but hasn't found anything yet.

Has anyone any experience or knowledge of this?

LindaM · #2 08-12-11, 06:40 AM

No not heard of in dogs, although I am inexperienced. Not heard of it in people either.

Lukey, my shep, has SIBO and needs to take B12 and folic acid which is the other way round, needing extras because he is not absorbing them properly.

Usually it is because the digestive system has a malfunction that something cannot be absorbed.

If food cannot be processed properly is most of it is coming out the other end and therefore causing the weight loss.

Hope you can get this sorted for her soon, poor girl

Stuart · #3 08-12-11, 08:17 AM

are you talking about EPI here?

LOVEGSD · #4 08-12-11, 11:19 AM

Sorry I don't, Diesel has B12 injections....

I hope your boss can get this sorted for her...xx

Caryll · #5 08-12-11, 02:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stuart

are you talking about EPI here?

No, apparently it definitely isn't EPI.

Quote:

Originally Posted by LindaM

No not heard of in dogs, although I am inexperienced. Not heard of it in people either.

Lukey, my shep, has SIBO and needs to take B12 and folic acid which is the other way round, needing extras because he is not absorbing them properly.

Usually it is because the digestive system has a malfunction that something cannot be absorbed.

If food cannot be processed properly is most of it is coming out the other end and therefore causing the weight loss.

Hope you can get this sorted for her soon, poor girl

I wonder if my boss has got it wrong & it's B12 insufficiency?

Kealagirl · #6 08-12-11, 02:21 PM

My wee lab had stomach problems last year and was throwing up and pooping in the house (never does this). She was diagnosed through blood tests as having a vitamin B deficiency. She was given vit b12 jabs once a week for. Number of weeks and we had to give her folic acid tablets too. After several injections her levels return to normal and she was able to go back to her normal food. Vet did say she might need to go onto different food, I'm sure he mentioned White fish and potato which you can get as a dried food I think

Hope she gets better and a course of vit B is all that's needed

Caryll · #7 08-12-11, 02:45 PM

Boss says that it's definitely B6. Her B6 level is just over 3 when it should be about 8 or 9.

Will Vitamin B jabs work for B6 as well as B12?

LindaM · #8 08-12-11, 03:07 PM

Just a very general and non medical observation.

If her B6 levels are low which they are and she is losing weight presumably food is either passing through or she is being sick which would seem to account for weight loss. If food is not being digested properly then I would have thought things other than B6 could have been low.

I can see why Stuart asked if it was EPI and as it's not there would seem to be a definite reason why food and the things we want to get from food such as vits and minerals are not being absorped.

I haven't heard of B6 injections but that is not to say you cannot get them.

Do you know what she is being fed on. My first thought would be to take the most common allergens out of the diet ie wheat, beef and diary and if she is not on a rice based kibble then I would try a slow change over to that.

Vets do not want to do test for allergies or food intolerances all or which can lead to reduced abosorbtion of essentials but then there is the other side which is are there sufficient enzymes/chemicals to break down the food.

Sorry if I am confusing the issue. I don't know how a dog's digestive system works, someone else on here might know.

You can buy vits in drop form from health shops so you can get general B vits in drop form and B12 in drops made by Biocare at about £5 a bottle. I don't know whether they do B6 as I haven't had cause to buy any.

Hope she can get it sorted.

Caryll · #9 08-12-11, 06:25 PM

Thanks for that, Linda, I'll pass that on.

I must admit that my first thought was EPI, but the vet is adamant that it isn't, and her B6 count is very low.

She's fed kibble, and I think that they're going to try a white fish & rice based one to see what happens. In the meantime they've got to wait & see what the vet comes up with.