[pgkevet]

Just a caution about going mad with cod-liver oil and overdoing the Vitamin A.There has been some intersts last few years on Vit D (and I think vit K). Apparently most people UK get low on Vit D in winter and marginal even in summer. I have a vet colleague in the USA who did a lot of reading around the subject when his wife developed a liver problem and pushed to get the Docs to allow massive supplementations and got her off the noxious drugs they wanted to use instead.There as also some research work on the problem cats get with dental resorptive disease and Vit D but if memory serves that remained unproven.

[landroverroy]

Yes I agree pgkevet There's always potential dangers in giving anything  to excess. But for those who are tempted to "drizzle" their treasured pet's food with copious amounts of cod liver oil from a one litre can, it can be obtained in capsules, specially for dogs for @5p/capsule.
Incidentally, if you google "cod liver oil for dogs" you will find an "interesting" article with pictures in glorious technicolour showing dogs who are obviously unwell (or merely asleep ) who are suffering from the after effects of too much cod liver oil. This article clearly points out the dangers of giving dogs an overdose of it, and how you cannot just give it from any source as it may be too concentrated and do your pet more harm than good.
But strangely enough this truly educational article is written by a Mr Booth - the founder of petsuk which sells online food for pets. And even stranger, this firm sells cod liver oil for dogs. But presumably as a result of their extensive research their CLO capsules are the only ones safe for dogs to take.


However I digress. Would be interested pgkevet in the research done on cats with dental resorptive disease and vitamin D. Can you remember if they came to a similar conclusion to the results found in humans? A lot of research done in the States ends up with "unproven" results as a result of pressure from Big Pharma who fight continually against natural remedies because they cannot patent them and make billions$$$ from them. In the meantime I'm going to get some low strength codliver oil capsules off Amazon for my 11 yer old collie. He doesn't have a tooth problem (none of my collies in 30 years ever have) but it might help his arthritis as well.

[pgkevet]

..retired and out of touch..but a quick google suggests FORL due to x/s vit Dhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15979519

[landroverroy]

Interesting. But I wonder if the XS vit D in cats is due to the fact that traditionally cats' food contains fish whereas dogs' food (up to now when it can have the addition of a mention of salmon) does not usually contain it. Also, the article doesn't say how much XS vit D was given to the cats. Could have been an extreme amount in order to illicit the required response. There are however tables of the amount of vit D that can safely be given to dogs, so, given sensibly in the form of standard capsules, I wouldn't expect a problem.

[pgkevet]

FORL is a common clinical condition in cats so unlikely to be due to owners giving extra. Either cat food being incorrectly balanced, too much cat food or manufacturers shoving more in to allow for losses in storage and that storage time not happening or possibly some cats absorbing better/having subclinical parathyroid issues?
I don't know what came of the research, whether it remained valid or was debunked with later knowledge. That paper was dated 2005.
Nevertheless a cautionary tale.

[Steph Hen]

Vit D and cod liver oil to fix teeth, avoiding cereals, eating real food, sounds like western price, his book is an interesting read!