Vitamin E is fairly safe as fat-soluble vitamins go. The "required" amt of vitamin E in the dog diet is 50 mg/kg/day (Small Animal Clinical Nutrition 1987). An abundant supplementary amt is 10-20 mg/kg/day.(Driscoll/Canine Health Census) Human RDA is 30mg/day, with adverse effects reported by some at 800 IU/day. There are, of course, positive effects in humans, ie free radical scavenging, etc.
There are 1.5 mg of Vitamin E in an IU, so if a 7 kg cavalier receiving 400 IU, they are receiving about 38 mg/kg/day, plus whatever they get in the diet. Excesses of vitamin E and K are not as notoriously harmful as A & D. In dog studies, cavalier-size mongrels receiving a single 400 dose did not suffer any side effects. But I haven't found any studies on long-term overdose in dogs. In human neonates, supplemented babies had more episodes of necrotizing enterocolitis, suggesting to the investigators that perhaps too much E was detrimental to the immune system. They also had more coagulopathies (bleeding), theoretically because excess E interferes with the action of K. (http://www.emedicine.com/med/topic2384.htm) Quote "Overall, vitamin E excess has little effect on mortality and has rare, self-limited adverse effects. The Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta Carotene Cancer Prevention Study published in January 2000 is the only study that shows increased mortality as a result of vitamin E. The increase in mortality was observed in fatal subarachnoid hemorrhage in men aged 50-69 years who smoked" If I had a concern about a dog's immune system or coagulation, and the dog was already receiving adequate vitamin E in its diet, I would be tempted to lower the supplementary dose of E to the 10 mg/kg range, if I was going to supplement. But if you are feeding a diet deficient in vitamin E, the 400 IU seems perfectly reasonable. Leanne ----- Original Message ----- > >>B6 is safe. It is a water soluble vitamin, which means the body > eliminates any excess. You really only have to worry about excesses with > the fat-soluble vitamins, A, D, E and K, as far as I know.<< > The price is very good and each gel cap is 400 IU. I had always > been under the impression that E was one of the vitamins that was not toxic, ========================================================= "Magic Commands": to stop receiving mail for awhile, click here and send the email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?body=SET%20CKCS-L%20NOMAIL to start it up gain click here: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?body=SET%20CKCS-L%20MAIL E-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] for assistance. Search the Archives... http://apple.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ckcs-l.html All e-mail sent through CKCS-L is Copyright 2002 by its original author.
