Dog owners have been warned after the death of a six-year-old pet from the infection Alabama Rot - the second fatality in a matter of weeks. Marnie, a six-year-old Hungarian Vizsla, died after contracting the illness also known as cutaneous and renal glomerular vasculopathy (CRGV).
A three-year-old labrador died of the disease last month. Now Marnie's owner Sabina Richardson, wants to highlight the symptoms of the disease. Sabina told the Mirror: "Marnie's first symptoms were sores on her paws which then began to spread onto her legs. She also stopped eating and started to vomit.
"We took her to local vets who gave her antibiotics but she couldn't keep the tablets down and continued to deteriorate. By this point, we were very concerned and visited another vets, who said they feared it was Alabama Rot.
"They gave Marnie an injection of antibiotics and took blood tests which confirmed her kidneys were failing. That was such a shock and it was really tough when we finally had to make the heart-breaking decision to put her to sleep."
A dog belonging to Sabina's partner had shown similar symptoms but, thankfully, survived. Sabina added: "Goose had very similar sores that were oozing puss and had the same sort of treatment but he survived and is absolutely fine now.
"It's so hard to understand. We keep going over it all and trying to identify where they could have come in touch with such a rare disease. We have re-traced our walks and can't think of anywhere we went that was unusual."
Anderson Moores Veterinary Specialists has been leading research since 2012 and confirmed the latest case, which is the second in the past six weeks.
Josh Walker, from Anderson Moores, said: "There were 11 cases recorded across the UK in 2022, so to report two deaths in Berkshire in a six-week period is unusual. However, I must emphasise this is a very rare disease and we're advising dog owners to remain calm but vigilant and seek advice from their vet if their dog develops unexplained skin lesions.
"Treatment largely revolves around management of the sudden onset kidney failure and is only successful in around 10 per cent of cases."
Josh advises pet owners to use the veterinary specialists' bespoke online map to see the exact location of confirmed cases in the UK.
