A friend of mine has a poor doer of a dog, and wanted to try and give her something to help her appetite, she heard that Vitamin B 12 can help, has anybody tried this or has any other ideas to help her appetite?

I'm not sure, b12 is 2.99 in holland and barrat for 100 tablets they are very small, 1 - 5 a day

I have had some improvement in appittie when using Sorb - Vit b from Animal Health Co on a few individual dogs.  No scientific proof, and improvements could have occured without the VitB, but when appittite is poor I would give it a go based on past personal experience.

K 

I have a B12 injection every 12 weeks, for medical reasons, and it's never made a difference to me!

vitamin B12  is used to treat a type of anaemia in dogs.

yes qwerty
My jabs are for pernicious anaemia.

I've used Brewers Yeast Tablets - very cheap and a good source of B vitamins.  Certainly helped the dog rediscover his appetite :-D

I have pernicious anaemia too and have B12 injections every 12 weeks...never noticed any change in appetite at all either.

Vitamin B12 is needed for nerve and blood cell health and is not related to appitite however the water soluable B vitamins are implicated in appitite stimulation. Where issues such as renal disease affect oral intake and processing of food, appitite is suppressed. Vit B complex given to such animals improves appitite and oral intake. See  http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/190302.htm

As water soluable vitamin supplementation carries no side effects (excess is removed from the body via kidneys) I am happy to try Vit B complex supplements for a dog with low appitite of unknown cause - it may not have the same effects as seen in clinially compromised dogs but it can do no harm. From the occassions I have tried it I have seen a small improvement whilest supplementation is taking place.

K

I've used malted sea kelp with grear success.  I had never seen them have such an appitite.  one will readily take it and the other I had to pop in their mouth.  I have two very picky eaters now with an appitite.

Its worth a try.

What is your friend feeding her dog?

Our female has b12 injections, reason for this was she became very loose after her litter, lost lots of weight but was fine in herself, and still very lively, the vet also put her on a 6 week course of antibiotics and Hills ID dry food, she was fine for a month or two, but now has gone loose again,? she is still on the B12 as her levels are not yet as they should be, she is still also on the Hills ID, this doesnt seem to be suiting her now? anyone any idea what i can feed her? she was always fine before the litter? obviously whatever is recommended i will run it by my vet.
Thanks guys.

What was she fed on before her litter annastasia?

Hi, the female was fed on happy dog before the litter, the litter was born in March this year, she lived with someone else at the time, she has lived with us 4 months now,

Forgot to say her apetite has always been very good, still is, oh and another thing our vet says vitamin B12 can only be absorbed via injection? dont know how true this is? but i guess it must be or she would have give us tablets rather than visiting her everyweek, she is a vet who doesnt agree in over vaccinating.

I'm not familiar with Happy Dog, but if it suited her before the litter why not continue with that?

I feed a combination of raw meat/bones and Orijen, along with the occasional pack of Naturediet. It suits my dogs (Goldies, Dobes and Sussex Spaniel) well and I try to avoid grains simply because canines weren't designed to eat them.

It was imported from Germany, now it is no longer available, will have a chat with my vet as the ID is £58 per sack and if its not doing her any good now i dont see the point in continuing with it any longer.

A friend of mine has a Goldie who had tried every prescription diet under the sun and was still getting diarrhoea and losing weight. I suggested raw, or if she wanted a complete to try Orijen. She opted for Orijen and hasn't looked back, the improvement was amazing. It isn't cheap, although much cheaper than the vet diets, but suits her dog well. She now feeds her other one on it too as she was so impressed.

<<It was imported from Germany, now it is no longer available,>>

I've just checked out the zooplus site and it seems to be available from them (http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/dogs/dry_dog_food/happy_dog)

> oh and another thing our vet says vitamin B12 can only be absorbed via injection? dont know how true this is?

It is most certainly true for humans with pernicious anaemia, it is the only way my body can absorb it - tablets wouldn't work.

I have no reason to believe that it's any different for canines with the same complaint.

Thanks guys, will look into zoo plus and the orjen, which 1 does your friend feed?
Gave her some raw meat this morning will see what happens?

She is feeding the Orijen Adult.

thanx, looked at the fish 1 also.