Abstract: Background: A previous study has shown equivalent efficacy of oral and injectable cobalamin supplementation in dogs with hypocobalaminemia. In cats, only one retrospective study evaluating oral supplementation has previously been reported. Objectives: To investigate the efficacy of oral or injectable supplementation with cobalamin in hypocobalaminemic cats with chronic enteropathy (CE) or exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (EPI). Animals: 48 client-owned cats with hypocobalaminemia. Methods: Prospective randomized trial. Cats with CE or EPI were randomly assigned to two groups that received either oral (250 µg of cyanocobalamin [Cobalaquin®, Nutramax Laboratories Veterinary Sciences] per cat, daily for 12 weeks total) or injectable (250 µg of cyanocobalamin [Vitamin B-12, VEDCO] per cat, weekly injection for 6 weeks with an additional dose 4 weeks later) supplementation. During the study, diet or other medical treatments for CE or EPI were determined by the primary care veterinarian of each cat. Each cat was examined 3 times with serum cobalamin and methylmalonic acid (MMA) concentrations being measured at each visit. Results: Serum cobalamin concentrations significantly increased with either oral or injectable supplementation in cats with CE or EPI. Serum MMA concentrations significantly decreased with either oral or injectable supplementation with cobalamin in cats with CE or EPI (Table 1). Conclusions and clinical importance: Both oral or injectable supplementation with cobalamin are effective in normalizing serum cobalamin and MMA concentrations in hypocobalaminemic cats with CE or EPI.
