Happy to talk rot!

Can you advise on the latest information available about Alabama rot in dogs? Since hearing about this disease, I have regularly washed my greyhound’s feet after walks. Is it necessary? There is disagreement between the sources I have looked at.

- DR DAVID GRANT

The medical term for this condition is cutaneous and renal glomerular vasculopathy, (CRGV). This is just a descriptive term of the pathological changes that cause the disease.

Small blood clots form in the smallest blood vessels in the skin and kidneys. Clinically this produces ulcers in the feet, paws and lower limbs mainly.

In some dogs these heal without further problems but in others, within 1-9 days acute kidney failure occurs.

These dogs are severely ill with vomiting, inappetence, thirst and lethargy all prominent signs, and regrettably a very high mortality rate.

Initially described in greyhounds in Alabama, CRGV was first described in the UK in 2012 in many breeds, with 330 confirmed cases to date, therefore rare.

There has been extensive research to identify the cause, without success.