Warning to Nottinghamshire dog owners as deadly Alabama Rot spreads across UK

Video: Hucknall vet Laura Pearce on spotting the signs of Alabama Rot. 

Dog owners in Nottingham are being warned about a deadly flesh-eating disease, after it reached the Midlands for the first time in 2017.

Alabama Rot can affect all breeds and causes lesions leading to kidney failure, tiredness, fever, vomiting and death without early treatment.

The cause of the disease is unknown but it has often been picked up when owners have taken their pets on muddy walks.

Early signs are skin sores often found below the dog’s knees, on their feet or around the face.

The condition has killed dozens of animals in the UK, including two in Notts, since 2012.

No cases have been reported in the county so far this year, but it has been reported near Manchester and last month appeared for the first time in 2017 in the Midlands, when a case was recorded in Warwickshire.

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The disease seems to appear most often after dogs are taken on muddy rural walks.

“The dogs first tend to get lesions, scabs or ulcers, on their feet, and around their nose and their mouths and they lick and lick and lick and this can affect the kidneys,” said Laura Pearce, a vet at Buckley House Vets, Hucknall.

“But you don’t see any signs it’s affecting the kidneys, you would see signs of kidney failure, so drinking more, weeing more and weight loss.

“I know near Burnt Stump in Sherwood Forest is among the high-risk areas.”

She added the disease is more common in the south of the UK, and warned Notts owners travelling south for their summer holidays to be aware.

Two dogs are believed to have died from the disease in Nottinghamshire in 2015 – one in Hucknall and another in Newark.

The disease is also known as Cutaneous and renal glomerular vasculopathy or CRVG, and if caught early can sometimes be treated with antibiotics.

 

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