Alabama Rot? What should we be doing with it?

Re: Alabama Rot? What should we be doing with it?

Martin Atkinson — Thu, 17 Apr 2014 13:43:49 GMT

[quote user="Bob Russell"]Don't want to add to hysterical owners by mentioning adders. They are already convinced that a strike is a death sentence! I am trying to reduce the panic not increase it![/quote] We've had a report of a local dog which died of renal failure after jumping out of a bush in distress. Local word is that its Alabama Rot, I'd go for Adder bite first given the abundance of them in the local parks but without full knowledge of the case it's hysteria and hear-say that reigns supreme.

Re: Alabama Rot? What should we be doing with it?

Bob Russell — Thu, 17 Apr 2014 13:35:03 GMT

[quote user="Hannah Wynne Richards"]

Bob You've forgotten adder bites - I would imagine you get your fair share of those

Wynne

[/quote]

Don't want to add to hysterical owners by mentioning adders. They are already convinced that a strike is a death sentence! I am trying to reduce the panic not increase it!

Re: Alabama Rot? What should we be doing with it?

Hannah Wynne Richards — Thu, 17 Apr 2014 13:14:51 GMT

Bob You've forgotten adder bites - I would imagine you get your fair share of those

Wynne

Re: Alabama Rot? What should we be doing with it?

Bob Russell — Thu, 17 Apr 2014 13:00:26 GMT

Discussion of this is pretty standard because I am in the New Forest. Owners want to know how to avoid their pet becoming ill and I am open with them. We don't know what causes it so we cannot prevent it. It is very rare so statistics say don't worry about it and get on with life! This is a dog paradise and 'Alabama Rot' is a small risk to take to benefit from that paradise.

I suggest their pet is far more at risk from crossing the road going to the Forest or getting kicked by a pony! I also finish along the lines that if your pet is one of the very few sadly it is stuffed even with the very best of treatment!

Most seem to take that message on board!

Re: Alabama Rot? What should we be doing with it?

Martin Atkinson — Thu, 17 Apr 2014 12:45:01 GMT

[quote user="Aisling McGrath"]Is it a bit of scare mongering? Or should we be very concerned???[/quote]If you take your dog for a walk its going to keel over from Alabama rot or Seasonal Canine disease (OK not this time of year for the latter). If you have a cat you're going to catch TB from it. We're all doomed. When I saw practice with the late and very great Wyn Griffith Jones in Atherstone he gave me the best single piece of advice I've ever been given, 'remember Martin, common things occur commonly'. I'm sure we've all had similar sage advice from our mentors and the obvious diametrically opposite is of course that rare things occur rarely.

Given I've not (knowingly) seen any of these in 38 years and counting I think these rules apply. We should be wary but be careful of not missing the wood for the trees. Far greater concern is the number of puppies being brought in form Eastern Europe illegally with the potential of introducing Rabies to the UK. Funny how the media hasn't got hold of that one yet!

Re: Alabama Rot? What should we be doing with it?

Shailen Jasani — Thu, 17 Apr 2014 00:32:58 GMT

Just to make you aware of this free open access podcast from the Royal Veterinary College which has been involved in much of the discussions about this disorder recently. Hopefully a good summary of the current situation and knowledge - or more like knowledge gap.

http://www.rvc.ac.uk/small-animal-referrals/news-events/clinical-podcasts

Re: Alabama Rot? What should we be doing with it?

Ann Jagoe — Thu, 23 Jan 2014 15:38:09 GMT

As usual the media love to panic everyone, no one said it was Alabama rot, just that pathology was similar, but as the scientific paper that anderson moores are producing has not been published yet, no one knows what these skin lesions look like and what the precise clinical progression has been and indeed whether all of the dogs in Hampshire and other places even had the same disease. The numbers involved are very small ( although very distressing for the pets and owners) , so compared to the number of dogs that go down with something equally serious and potentially fatal - eg parvovirus- ( in the first 6 months of 2013 for example the PDSA surgeries in uk treated 1800 cases of parvo ) it is far less of a risk to the dog population. As a profession surely it is our duty to try and stop owners and the media panicking ( don't forget we were all going to get sars, swine flu and avian flu ) , wait for the actual facts to come out in full and treat any cases symptomically if they occur.

Re: Alabama Rot? What should we be doing with it?

Bob Russell — Thu, 23 Jan 2014 12:58:14 GMT

We also had two cases. One was euthanased based on horrendous BUN/Crea and a lack of funds. The other one went to Southern Counties Veterinary Specialists and we only made the link between cases the following week.

Not sure how to treat if presented with skin lesions alone. If E coli toxin related should we give antibiotics? Following comments on here I looked at human articles that clearly suggest antibiotics may increase toxin release potentially making the renal damage worse.

If it is not E coli but another bacterium then aggressive antibiotic therapy may be called for. Damned if you do, probably damned if you don't!

Phone call to David Walker would be the first step but without a cause vets are going to struggle.

Statistically not a cause to panic because numbers are so low but that is little comfort if your dog is affected!

Re: Alabama Rot? What should we be doing with it?

ChrisBVSc — Thu, 23 Jan 2014 12:46:38 GMT

One of our branches had a couple of cases last year, I didn't see them but heard all about it. The press seem to imply we might know what it is, when actually no underlying cause has been identified so far (as far as I'm aware). They're saying Alabama rot because that's what it's most SIMILAR to, but it's not certain that this is the same thing - it's just the clinical presentation & disease course is very similar. I'm in an area near to the outbreak, so the plan if we get any suspicious lesions is to advise bloods & urine sample, and take it from there. Obviously if they're at all unwell we'd admit them straight away & start fluids. After that I'll be straight on the phone to the nearby specialists!

Also (again as far as I'm aware) this is nothing to do with seasonal canine illness until proven otherwise.

Re: Alabama Rot? What should we be doing with it?

Niall Taylor — Thu, 23 Jan 2014 12:39:21 GMT

There's already a thread here on the topic - http://www.vetsurgeon.org/forums/t/17607.aspx

Cheers,