Indications and Clinical Uses
Vitamin B12 has been used to treat some conditions of anemia. Vitamin B12 is used
to manage vitamin B deficiencies associated with cobalt deficiency, inadequate intake,
or intestinal malabsorption. In patients with exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (EPI)
or IBD, particularly cats, deficiency of cobalamin is common and supplementation is
recommended. Vitamin B12 is a water-soluble vitamin and absorption in the intestine
is a receptor-mediated process. It is dependent on the intrinsic factor produced by
the pancreas and animals with intestinal disease may have difficulty with absorption.
Cats are particularly susceptible because they cannot store cobalamin as well as people
and they lack the binding protein transcobalamin-1. Thus, cats have a much more
rapid turnover than people. The half-life in people is 1 year; but in healthy cats it is
11-14 days, or 4.5-5.5 days in cats with intestinal disease.