Vitamin A

Severity scale:
No/low toxicity

This potential toxin is considered to be a mild risk or the symptoms are not considered serious. The risk level, however, may vary depending on the amount or part ingested (see details below). While in most cases you should be able to carefully monitor your pet at home, if any of the symptoms listed below appear, if your pet's condition worsens not improves, or if there is any change in your pet's behavior or other habits, please contact whiskerDocs or your primary veterinarian for further guidance.

Vitamin A is found in multivitamins, fish oil supplements and organ meats. While toxicity is rare, ingestion of large amounts can cause toxicity, especially in cats. In general, the amount needed to cause toxicity is 10-1000 times beyond the recomended daily dietary requirements for most species, but in a cat especially, that threshold can be reached quickly. Always check with your veterinarian prior to giving any supplement to your companion. Most toxicity occurs acccidentally, such as by dropping one of your own Vitamin A tablets or multivitamins, however feeding large amounts of organ meats and cod liver oil supplements are other primary causes of this particular toxicity, so only give these with guidance from your vet about appropriate thresholds for your pet.

Other names: 
multivitamins, fish oil, bears liver, cod liver oil
Toxic to: 
Dogs and Cats
Symptoms: 
Signs include lack of appetite, nausea, peeling skin, weakness, tremors, seizures, paralysis, death. Prolonged use can cause bone spurs.
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