Water Soluble Vitamins - Vitamin C & Vitamin B Complex in Dogs

According to Stedman's Medical Dictionary, a vitamin is 'one of a group of organic substances, present in minute amounts in natural foodstuffs, that are essential to normal metabolism.' As defined, vitamins are present in very small quantities in most foods and it is this fact that leads to the manufacture of vitamin supplements for dogs, cats, and people. Not only are vitamins naturally present in only small amounts, they are also essential for life. The importance of vitamins has been known for only a short time, however, their actual effects were demonstrated long ago. Around 400 B.C., the father of modern medicine, Hippocrates, first advocated using liver to cure night blindness. We now know that the essential component of the liver was vitamin A and it was the lack of vitamin A that caused the night blindness. Beriberi, the once feared paralytic disease of humans, was found to be curable by feeding unpolished rice. It is now known that the unpolished rice was rich in the vitamin B1 thiamine. Low thiamine levels were the real cause of beriberi and a simple diet change could cure the paralysis.