www.prioryvets.co.uk/free-advice/alabama-rot-current-forest-walk-dog-disease
From their website:
Many of you will probably of heard about the concerns for dogs that may be contracting a potentially fatal disease while walking in damp woodlands.
Recent cases have mostly occurred in the New Forest, Hampshire but there are reports that one or two cases may have been seen in Surrey – although exact details are sketchy.
The worry is that dogs who have recently been walked in woodlands, develop either:
*Skin lesions – often blister / ulcer like, on the face or limbs:
or *Lethargy (due to fever) and vomiting
Either of these symptoms can go on quite quickly to be followed by the development of acute kidney failure -and in some of these cases the dogs have then died. The skin lesion or illness symptoms can occur any where from several hours after the walk, up to about 5 days later.
The disease has been well investigated by Anderson-Moore referral centre – based near the New Forest and they have found evidence that this disease may be Alabama rot (previously called cutaneous-renal vasculopathy). This originially seen in America disease, appears to be caused by a toxin from E Coli bacteria, perhaps living in rotting vegetation on the woodland floor or in woodland waters such as streams or ponds.
So please, if your dog develops blister or small wound like lesions anywhere on their bodies, especially if within several days of a woodland type walk, then bring them to see us. The recent cases in the New Forest, showed that dogs seen in the early stages were the ones likely to survive, whereas those where lesions or illness was just watched by their owners for a few days, were more likely to die of sudden kidney failure. Equally, if your dog develops lethargy, dullness or vomiting, please call us and make an appointment – this disease attacks the body fast and the sooner we rule it in or out and start any necessary treatment (often fluids and antibiotics) then the higher the chances of your dog surviving.