Alabama Rot

[Edwardian]

So far reported in Warwickshire, Berkshire, Staffordshire (Cannock Chase), Devon and Greater Manchester.

 

No one seems to know how it spreads, or what it is.  There is no vaccine. It is proving fatal in 9 out of 10 cases.

 

All we seem to be able to do is to keep an eye on our dogs and react promptly to any unexplained lesions.

[Welchester]

The veterinary practice in Staffordshire that I use has posted links to these sites, which may be useful:

 

http://www.arrf.co.uk/learn.html

 

https://www.andersonmoores.com/owner/CRGV.php

[Edwardian]

The veterinary practice in Staffordshire that I use has posted links to these sites, which may be useful:

 

http://www.arrf.co.uk/learn.html

 

https://www.andersonmoores.com/owner/CRGV.php

 

Thank you. I had not come across the ARRF site, which is more measured than some sites and very informative, and appears to be a registered charity to which one can donate to fund much needed research. 

[BG John]

The muddy water thing is a bit worrying, as I own a wood that's like a swamp over much of its area. We have to wade through mud on every walk. It's getting worse every year, as the ground doesn't freeze for much of the winter like it did the first couple years I was here. On the other hand, it's private land, so very few other dogs go in it, although wildlife does.

[Edwardian]

The muddy water thing is a bit worrying, as I own a wood that's like a swamp over much of its area. We have to wade through mud on every walk. It's getting worse every year, as the ground doesn't freeze for much of the winter like it did the first couple years I was here. On the other hand, it's private land, so very few other dogs go in it, although wildlife does.

 

It is a concern, because we don't know how it spreads.  If other mammals are vectors of the disease, we have a problem; rabbits, mice, voles, rats, moles, deer and fox no doubt all visit us.

 

Fortuitously, because we have been very busy, we have tended to exercise the dogs on the property, but in the November-May highest risk period, it can get very muddy, and I have tended to end by chucking the dogs in the beck to wash off. Of course, who know what gets chucked into the beck upstream?  I am rather hoping that relatively fresh running water is OK and that it is not water-bourn.  Should I try to keep them out of the water altogether?  Not easy with Labs.

 

There was a case in Darlington in 2015, and one in Hamsterley in 2012.  In neither case is it known where the dog was walked, so I don't think we really gain much from this.  There is no concentration locally, as there is, say, in the Manchester area.

 

Keep vigilant and pray for luck seems to be the only course of action. 

[BG John]

Fortuitously, because we have been very busy, we have tended to exercise the dogs on the property, but in the November-May highest risk period, it can get very muddy, and I have tended to end by chucking the dogs in the beck to wash off. Of course, who know what gets chucked into the beck upstream?  I am rather hoping that relatively fresh running water is OK and that it is not water-bourn.  Should I try to keep them out of the water altogether?  Not easy with Labs.

Our walk is arranged so we can have a good wash in a stream after the worst of the mud, so Beauty gets back just wet, and I get back with fairly clean wellies. The stream doesn't flow all summer, but it's quite fast for most of the winter. All my land is on clay, the wood was formerly a clay pit, and is steadily getting worse, as it doesn't freeze in winter, and the rain doesn't stop for long enough in summer. Strangely, the last time I was able to walk round the wood without wellies was a week or two last spring. All "summer" I've needed wellies. I think I'd spot any lesions while I'm drying her, but perhaps I should start checking a bit more thoroughly.

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

....Keep vigilant and pray for luck seems to be the only course of action. 

 If it is a communicable disease and there is epidemic risk, then quarantine and movement restriction will be the reasonable course, exactly as for foot and mouth.

[BG John]

 If it is a communicable disease and there is epidemic risk, then quarantine and movement restriction will be the reasonable course, exactly as for foot and mouth.

How could that be enforced? It can be with farm animals, but there's no registration system for dogs, and no way to restrict movement except for when trying to leave the country.

[laurenceb]

There will always be some selfish moron who could not bear to leave there beloved mutt behind and spread the disease

[bescotbeast]

I'd not heard about this till the missus mentioned it the other day, it's quite worrying as there have been some cases down here in Sussex. At the moment we are not going onto the downs with our two rascals and sticking to the streets.

[57xx]

There was a renewed warning about CRGV in the New Forest back in March this year. It's been around the area since at least 2012 with over a dozen poor dogs catching it in around a year since first seen.

[Ozexpatriate]

"Alabama Rot"

 

Sounds nasty. I hope the dog owners posting here are spared.

 

When I saw the thread title I was put in mind of something else entirely, (related to the current news cycle here in the US) that is out of bounds here on RMweb due to political content. I'm glad it was not that being discussed.

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

How could that be enforced? It can be with farm animals, but there's no registration system for dogs, and no way to restrict movement except for when trying to leave the country.

 You have put your finger right on the principle. If this disease threatens to build up to epidemic level, there are proven systems to manage it. No government will want to introduce such a system, so it would only come if there's a severe enough problem that people reluctantly accept that 'something has to be done'. What the detail would be, expert advisors would have to determine.

 

During the foot and mouth outbreak controls, I was quite impressed at how dog owners complied with keeping their pets out of the woodland area backing on to my garden.

[BG John]

During foot and mouth, I was lucky to live close to what I think is one of the best year round dog friendly beaches in the world, as pretty much the whole of Exmoor and the Quantocks was closed. But there were no travel restrictions on dogs, only restrictions on places to go for walks.

 

For many people, dogs are just as much a part of the family as their human relatives, and to some people they are their entire family. Quarantining dogs means that many humans would effectively be quarantined too, while those who ignore the rules would be out and about spreading the disease anyway. Going further than quarantine would probably result in the death of a good number of humans too. I don't how that could be resolved.

 

Foot and mouth was a short term problem, but I suspect this one could be very long term if it develops.

[bike2steam]

So far reported in Warwickshire, Berkshire, Staffordshire (Cannock Chase), Devon and Greater Manchester.

 

No one seems to know how it spreads, or what it is.  There is no vaccine. It is proving fatal in 9 out of 10 cases.

 

All we seem to be able to do is to keep an eye on our dogs and react promptly to any unexplained lesions.

 

You can add the New Forest ( as someone else mentioned), and Cornwall to that list.

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

... Quarantining dogs means that many humans would effectively be quarantined too, while those who ignore the rules would be out and about spreading the disease anyway. Going further than quarantine would probably result in the death of a good number of humans too. I don't how that could be resolved....

 The analogy is with surgery for life-threatening conditions. There are always casualties: those with less than successful outcomes and deaths, resulting from necessary procedures, it is an imperfect world. This comes down to reason, if it came to it, most would see that accepting major inconvenience and disruption to normal life was unfortunately a necessity, and would - albeit reluctantly and probably not quite perfectly - generally conform.

 

As for the outright scofflaws, self policing by the affected group would assist to control this. Most of us are law abiding, and when there is a real need will go further in reporting deviance. Fortunately conformance typically does not have to be anything like perfect to limit disease spread. 

 

It is a difficult balance to strike, and should the epidemic risk become real, you can bet on strident accusations of 'the government should have acted much earlier'. This one looks like a classic case of setting up an all-party committee early, to monitor the risk and advise. Those interested should raise it with their MP's I would suggest.

[BG John]

Vets4Pets have a map where you can type in your postcode to see if there are local cases

http://www.vets4pets.com/stop-alabama-rot/

[bike2steam]

Vets4Pets have a map where you can type in your postcode to see if there are local cases

http://www.vets4pets.com/stop-alabama-rot/

Worrying, closer to home than I thought!!

[BG John]

It looks as though I'm OK here in Wales, at the moment.

 

Considering the number of dogs there are in the country, if the map shows all occurrences, it's nowhere near being a major problem yet. It's very nasty, and needs fast action, so publicity is important, but I wonder what percentage of dogs it affects compared to other things that can harm them. I wonder how many dogs will die this Christmas because they ate a mince pie.