Vitamin K for Dogs: What It Does for Your Pet

If you’re reading this, chances are that you’ve come across some vitamin K for dogs product or other. So what is it and what does it do?

Well, vitamin K is a nutrient that provides many benefits. While most people know of its powers of blood clotting, it also acts as a powerful antioxidant and protects the skin from inflammation. More importantly, it can be helpful in healing wounds and preventing or aiding bone healing.

In addition to these benefits, vitamin K has been proven to help with issues related to allergies. It has been shown that vitamin K can reduce allergic reactions in both humans and dogs by inhibiting histamine production from mast cells. Vitamin K is also playing a significant role in bone health.

Dogs cannot make their own vitamin K, so they need to get it from their food, either from the dog food they eat or the supplements they take.

It is difficult to determine how much vitamin K a dog needs. That is because many factors influence the requirements. These are breed, weight, age and level of activity.

As the effects of Vitamin K on dogs’ bodies are many and varied, today we’ll try to give you the basic details you need to know. Let’s get started.

Check out our Nutrition Strength Vitamin K for Dogs.

Table of Contents:

1. Benefits of Vitamin K in Dogs
2. What Happens if Your Dog Doesn’t Get Enough Vitamin K?
3. Which Are the Best Sources of Vitamin K for Dogs?
4. How Much Vitamin K Should Your Dog Take?
5. Can You Give Your Dog Too Much Vitamin K?
6. The Takeaway
7. Nutrition Strength Vitamin K for Dogs

Benefits of Vitamin K in Dogs

Vitamin K is an essential nutrient found in a dog’s diet. It offers many advantages to your pet, such as:

• Strengthens the bone structure. Vitamin K helps maintain a healthy bone structure, which serves as the foundation for the dog’s skeleton. As a result, this vitamin helps prevent joint problems and hip dysplasia. It also relieves pain associated with arthritis. Vitamin K in your dog’s diet is used to metabolize calcium into the bones, which prevents calcium deposits in the heart, arteries, and other muscles.
• Promotes healthy blood coagulation. Vitamin K helps to ensure proper blood clotting and is used to prevent bleeding after surgery or injury. It also plays a role in regulating your pet’s immune system and making sure your dog never forms clots in his lungs (pulmonary thrombosis).
• Prevents anemia. Vitamin K plays an essential role in aiding bone marrow in producing red blood cells, which aid in efficiently carrying oxygen around the body. In the case of anemia, this vitamin is used to promote red blood cell production to ensure your pet has sufficient oxygen levels.
• Promotes a healthy heart. Vitamin K is essential for heart health, as it promotes normal blood pressure and ensures your pet doesn’t suffer from a hardening of the arteries. It promotes cardiovascular stamina and reduces the risk of fatal heart attacks from canine heart disease.
• Helps maintain healthy gums. Vitamin K plays a role in the health of your dog’s gums and teeth, as it promotes good circulation and healing. This vitamin helps prevent gingivitis and other gum diseases.
• Aids in glucose metabolism. The vitamin K in a dog’s diet is used to metabolize glucose — a natural carbohydrate that fuels digestion and provides energy. This vitamin helps to ensure that your dog doesn’t suffer from diabetes.
• Plays a role in female health. Vitamin K in a dog’s diet plays a significant role in preventing osteoporosis and helps prevent birth defects in unborn puppies. It promotes fertility, ensures the female dog is healthy before breeding and prevents miscarriage.
• Helps with wounds infections. Vitamin K helps inhibit bacterial growth in your pet’s wounds and promotes healing by preventing disease-causing bacteria from entering the wounds. It also protects against inflammation of the skin caused by bacterial contamination.

As you can see, the effects of vitamin K on dogs are very diverse. We examine the role of this vitamin in almost every function of our pet’s body. That is why we need to try our best to ensure its regular delivery.

What Happens if Your Dog Doesn’t Get Enough Vitamin K?

A vitamin K deficiency is not common in healthy adult dogs, but can occur if your pet’s diet does not contain sufficient concentrations of nutrients. Vitamin K deficiencies are more common in puppies who are still nursing, or in older animals with weakened immune systems.

It is also possible for a dog to develop a vitamin K deficiency if he’s been receiving aspirin-based drugs or has received blood transfusions with large volumes of fresh frozen plasma.

The most common vitamin K deficiency in dogs is caused by insufficient concentrations of vitamin K in the animal’s diet. Dogs need this nutrient to produce blood-clotting proteins. They are necessary to stop bleeding very fast when they’re injured.

There are several clinical signs to watch for when diagnosing a vitamin K deficiency in dogs. These signs include:

• Licking paws, which can lead to bleeding. That is a common initial sign in dogs with a vitamin K deficiency. For example, your dog may lick its paws frequently after playing or sleeping because she’s irritated from the dryness of her skin. That leads to bleeding from the pads of her paws.
• Bruising easily. Once blood-clotting proteins have been depleted, your dog will bruise easily from bumps and from playing with you or other dogs. Talk to your veterinarian in more detail about vitamin K in dogs if you notice bruising in your canine companion.
• Nosebleeds. If your dog’s nose bleeds, especially if it happens frequently or without an apparent cause, it could be deficient in vitamin K. It’s not uncommon for dogs to suffer from nosebleeds during and after seasons of heavy pollen.
• Bleeding from cuts or other wounds. If your dog is injured and doesn’t seem to be healing, it may have a vitamin K deficiency. Pay attention to any injuries, cuts or other wounds that don’t appear to be healing properly.
• Stool that appears black or has a dark red-brown color. This symptom is a result of bleeding in the gastrointestinal tract. You may also notice that your dog has blood in its stool or vomit, which is a sign that it’s bleeding internally.
• Depression and lethargy. A vitamin K deficiency can cause anemia, which will usually show up as weakness, fatigue and depression in dogs.
• Gum bleeding. It’s uncommon for dogs to develop gum bleeding unless they’re bleeding elsewhere in their body. If your dog is experiencing gum bleeding, call your veterinarian to determine if she’s also exhibiting signs of other illnesses or vitamin K deficiency.
• Bleeding under the skin (subcutaneous blood). For your dog to develop bleeding beneath the skin, it can’t produce enough of these clotting proteins. If you notice any sudden or unusual bleeding in your dogs, such as under the skin of his ears, nose or gums, seek immediate veterinary care.
• Sudden difficulties in breathing (hypoxemia). That may indicate a severe and dangerous internal bleeding and is another sign that your dog may be deficient in vitamin K.

Which Are the Best Sources of Vitamin K for Dogs?

It’s worth noting that animal feed is not usually strengthened with vitamin K or any other vitamins. So it may be necessary to enhance your pet’s diet to help prevent health problems. But before that, you should know that there are two different types of vitamin K: K1 and K2.

Vitamin K1 for dogs may be obtained from animal products, especially the liver. Most dogs eat foods that incorporate such products, so it should not be a problem to maintain the concentration of vitamin K1.

But vitamin K2 is mainly found in human foods, which are not recommended for dogs. Such are plant-based foods, such as mushrooms, broccoli, spinach and so on.

Not all of these foods are equal in relation to the lifespan of vitamin K: vitamin K2 is unstable and less effective than K1 is. Vitamin K2 sits in the small intestine for a short time before being absorbed into the bloodstream, where it then turns into a different chemical called menaquinone. What this means for your dog is that only a certain amount is available at any given time.

Since it is difficult to obtain vitamin K2 for dogs in large doses or in its pure form, most experts recommend that you pay attention to the presence of both types of vitamin K in food / supplements for your dog.

What we can recommend to you is to add vitamin K tablets for dogs to their daily diet. As always, you should consult a veterinarian first if you suspect such problems.

We have developed our Nutrition Strength vitamin K complex, which contains both vitamins K1 and K2 and also vitamin D3, to help with its absorption. Properly formulated vitamin K tablets for dogs should help to maintain the normal homeostasis in your pet’s body, strengthen their musculoskeletal system and help improve heart health so that the dog can enjoy a longer, healthier life.

How Much Vitamin K Should Your Dog Take?

The recommended vitamin K dose for dogs is 1,000 micrograms per 10 pounds of body weight. You can achieve this by splitting their total dosage into three parts and administering them for the day. For example, if your dog weighs 50 pounds, you would administer 250 mcg, 3 times a day (750 mcg total).

The tolerable upper intake level (UL) for vitamin K in dogs is set at around 1,000 mcg per pound of body weight. So a 50-pound dog could safely take up to 50,000 mcg of vitamin K per day. If you are considering giving your dog larger doses of vitamin K, consult your vet first.

One common reason to give larger doses of vit K for dogs is before surgery. Dogs, which are scheduled for surgery, are given an injection of vitamin K to reverse any possible blood clotting problems that could lead to deadly bleeding during the procedure.

Can You Give Your Dog Too Much Vitamin K?

There is not much evidence related to hyperkalemia in dogs. Canine vitamin K is fat-soluble, so the more fat a dog has on its body, the more potential for vitamin K build-up. Vitamin K can also accumulate in body fat, which is more common in cats than dogs.

Yet, it is unlikely that your pup will ever have to face this problem. The animal studies that linked high doses of vitamin K to different pathologies are not conclusive. The precise risks of excessive vitamin K intake in dogs are unknown.

The Takeaway

You can now see for yourself the fundamental importance of vitamin K for our pets. As we already explained, it takes part in a large number of the processes in your pet’s body. It is associated not only with heart health, but also with that of many other systems, such as the musculoskeletal, blood, nervous system.

Vitamin K deficiency can lead to several problems in dogs which are very similar to those in humans. We may experience bleeding, a change in stool color and even hypoxia, which can be life-threatening for our pets as well.

Therefore, in case you suspect any of them, you should consult a veterinarian. She will be able to give you information about ​the your dog’s health condition. Also, your vet will tell you whether it is necessary to consider additional supplements to the menu.

Any supplemental intake should be consistent with your dog’s weight, so be sure to comply with your vet’s prescription and the supplement’s recommended dosage.

Nutrition Strength Vitamin K for Dogs

Check out our Nutrition Strength Vitamin K for Dogs.

Nutrition Strength’s Vitamin K for Dogs chewable tablets are formulated with three forms of vitamin K plus vitamin D3. Together, they play a central role in calcium metabolism and studies have shown them to work together to promote bone and cardiovascular health. Studies have also found that joint supplementation of vitamins K and D might be more effective than the intake of either vitamin by itself for bone and cardiovascular health.

A great way to support your dog’s well-being, Nutrition Strength’s vitamin K tablets for dogs may benefit your four-legged friends by helping to:

• Support cardiovascular health.
• Maintain strong bones.
• Promote healthy muscle function.
• Facilitate calcium metabolism in your pet’s body.
• Strengthen the immune system.

Nutrition Strength’s vitamin K supplement for dogs is formulated to help ensure that your pet gets sufficient amounts of vitamin K1, two forms of vitamin K2 (MK4 and MK7), as well as vitamin D3. Your pet’s body needs vitamin K for the complete synthesis of certain proteins, which are required for blood coagulation (which is why K stands for Koagulation, German for “coagulation”) and for the binding of calcium in bones and other tissues.

Vitamin D promotes the synthesis of vitamin K-dependent proteins, which need vitamin K for carboxylation, so they can function properly.

Image credit: Wikimedia / Jon Sullivan.