The European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products Veterinary Medicines Evaluation Unit

1. The term vitamin D is used for a range of closely related steroid compounds which possess the property of preventing or curing vitamin D deficiency. These include alfacalcidol (1α-hydroxyvitamin D3), calcifediol (25-hydroxyvitamin D3), calcitriol (1α,25 dihydroxy-vitamin D3), cholecalciferol (vitamin D3), dihydrotachysterol and ergocalciferol (vitamin D2 or calciferol). In veterinary medicine, only vitamin D3 is administered to food producing animals. Vitamin D3 is given by oral, intramuscular and subcutaneous routes at the recommended posology of 500 to 2 000 IU/kg bw in cattle, sheep, horses, pigs, rabbits and chickens.