Vitamin B9 and B12 Deficiency in Dogs – Why do we care?

Instructional Guide

This lesson explores what Vitamin B9 and B12 are, as well as why they are necessary for veterinary patients. Students will learn how to diagnose a deficiency and how veterinarians treat patients with this diagnosis.

Intended Grade Level

This lesson is intended for 9th- 12th graders. Students should be familiar with what vitamins are, and how the body can use them. Students should also feel comfortable with metric measurements, and what the difference between different metric prefixes means. 

Learning objectives

• Students will be able to define cobalamin and folate and describe their role in the digestive process.
• Students will be able to describe what conditions can lead to deficiencies in the levels of Vitamin B9 and B12.
• Students should understand how blood tests can identify deficiencies in the levels of Vitamin B9 and B12.
• Students will be able to describe the basic diseases that result from Vitamin B9 and B12 deficiency.

Lesson Format

This lesson can be done in groups of any size, but are best done individually.

• First students will explore what Vitamin B12 and Vitamin B9 are by clicking on images, reading the material provided, and watching videos where necessary (8 minutes).
• Next, students will read about causes, symptoms and treatments for vitamin deficiencies (10 minutes).
• Students will participate in activity categorizing bloodwork results (5 minutes).
• The assessment will focus on a vitamin deficiency case in a fill in the blank manner (5 minutes).

Lesson Background

Vitamin B12 (cobalamin) and Vitamin B9 (folate) are critical for nerves, blood cells, and cell growth function. These vitamins are absorbed through the GI tract after having been taken in from an animals diet. When the animal does not eat enough vitamins, or the GI tract is damaged and cannot absorb enough vitamins, an animal can go into vitamin deficiency. Symptoms of Vitamin B9 or B12 deficiency can include lethargy, diarrhea, weight loss, and neurological issues. Deficiency can be diagnoses through blood work checking circulating B9 and B12 lessons. If there is determined to be a deficiency, veterinarians will give their patients vitamin supplements in the form of pills.

Activities

Students will drag and drop different B9 and B12 levels found in bloodwork into either the “low level” or “normal level” category in order to familiarize themselves with test results indicative of deficiency.

Common misconceptions and challenge points

• It may be challenging to discern what the other names are for B12 and B9. Remind students that it takes time to create associations, and emphasize that they practice calling B12 cobalamin, and B9 folate.
• It may be confusing that some high bloodwork values are included within the “normal” range. For the sake of this activity we do not go into vitamin toxicity, but the levels indicated as “normal” despite high are not high enough for this to occur.

Assessment

Students will read through a case and drag appropriate terminology into the blank space within the case.

Further exploration