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It is a wet Sunday in January. Your dog comes home from the woods caked in mud to the elbows, and that evening a headline about Alabama rot scrolls past on your phone. Before bed, you find yourself checking their legs for sores you have never once seen.
Alabama rot can be fatal, and nobody yet knows what causes it. It is also very rare. Here is what the research shows, which sores deserve a prompt call to your vet, and whether there is any reason to give up those muddy woodland walks.
How rare is Alabama rot?
Alabama rot in numbers
That count is kept by Anderson Moores Veterinary Specialists, which tracks every confirmed case in the UK and says that, thankfully, it is unusual for more than one dog in a particular area to be affected1.
The true number is probably higher, though nobody knows by how much. Alabama rot can only be confirmed by finding its tell-tale damage in kidney tissue, which in practice means after a dog has died, so dogs that survive never join the tally4, 7.
What Alabama rot does to a dog
Alabama rot is the everyday name for cutaneous and renal glomerular vasculopathy, or CRGV. It blocks and damages small blood vessels in the skin and sometimes the kidneys, causing skin sores and, in severe cases, kidney failure4, 6, 7.
The name dates from the 1980s, when greyhounds in Alabama developed skin ulcers and kidney failure. Whether that illness and the one seen in the UK share a cause is unknown4.
How a dog fares depends on the kidneys. Dogs with a mild case that leaves the kidneys alone are likely to make a full recovery, while the outlook is much poorer once the kidneys are involved6. Anderson Moores describes the outlook for dogs with a skin-only form of the disease as very good5.
In the first UK case series, all 30 dogs died or were put to sleep, a median of seven days after their first signs7. But that study only included dogs with kidney injury confirmed from kidney tissue, so it cannot tell you the odds for a dog with a sore. Its authors also knew of six dogs that survived, which they strongly suspected had the disease but could not confirm7.
Five things you may have heard
A disease with no known cause attracts confident claims. Here are five common ones, set against the research and UK guidance.
| You may have heard | What the evidence says |
|---|---|
| Muddy walks cause it | Cases are linked with woodland and wet weather, but the cause is still unknown3, 1 |
| Washing prevents it | Washing is a sensible precaution, yet there is no guaranteed way to prevent it4, 6 |
| It is always fatal | Dogs with sores but no kidney problems are likely to make a full recovery5, 6 |
| It spreads between dogs | Research to date gives no indication that it is contagious5 |
| Only some breeds get it | Any breed or age can be affected, though some breeds appear more often1, 5 |
Mud, woodland and winter: what the link shows
The clearest picture of where and when comes from a 2018 study that mapped UK cases. Some 92% of diagnoses were reported between November and May, and the number of regions reporting the disease grew between 2012 and 20173. A 2021 study of 178 dogs found the same season, with 91% of cases between November and May8.
The 2018 researchers then compared where cases occurred with environmental and farming data, and habitat was the factor that contributed most. Cases were generally associated with woodland, higher average maximum temperatures in winter, spring and autumn, more rain in winter and spring, and fewer cattle and sheep3.
The study links places with cases. It did not follow what individual dogs did on their walks, and this is where the trail goes cold. Wet winter woodland is also where a great many healthy dogs walk every day. The authors say such findings may help build models of what causes the disease3.
Early on, the New Forest looked like a hotspot: more than a third of the 30 dogs in the first UK case series came from there. The researchers noted that this could reflect their own base in Hampshire and greater awareness among local vets7. Affected dogs have since been found throughout the UK4.
What causes it? The leads so far
Researchers have looked hard. The first UK study tested affected dogs for the toxin-producing E. coli behind a similar kidney disease in people, and found neither the toxin in their kidneys nor the bacteria's toxin genes in their droppings7.
The same team thought leptospirosis and a virus both unlikely explanations, though they said neither could be completely ruled out7. They suggested an infectious or environmental trigger might be at work, because eight dogs that lived with confirmed cases developed sores too. They also noted that all eight were related to a confirmed case or to each other7.
In the 2021 study, 15 of the 178 dogs (8.4%) had been in contact with another dog that developed sores8. Even so, research to date gives no indication that Alabama rot passes from dog to dog5.
There is still no simple test, and no cure. No blood or urine test can confirm Alabama rot, and treatment manages the sores with pain relief and dressings and, when needed, the kidney failure5.
The signs to look for, and how fast they can change
Skin sores are the most common sign6. In the 2021 study, 81% of dogs had sores on their limbs when they were first seen8, and in the first UK series, 28 of the 30 dogs had them on the lower legs7.
Sores usually appear on the legs or paws but can turn up anywhere, including the head, the tummy, around the mouth and nose, or on the tongue. They may look like a patch of redness, a cut, a bruise, a sting or an open sore4. The PDSA describes them as usually painful, red, raised and circular, sometimes with a dark centre, and often with swelling or bruising around them6. In the first UK series, vets had often put them down to wounds, bites, stings or skin inflammation7.
More paw licking than usual can be a clue, and so can limping1, 6. If the kidneys become involved, you may see vomiting, a dog who is off their food or unusually tired, or changes in how much they drink and wee4, 6.
Timing varies widely. In the 2021 study, kidney injury was found a median of three days after the first sore, but the range ran from four days before it to 45 days after, and 13 dogs (7.3%) were unwell before any sore appeared8.
Keep it in proportion, though. Most skin sores are not caused by Alabama rot5. The PDSA says that because it is so rare, it is unlikely to be behind your dog's symptoms, but that it is always safe to have them checked if you are worried6.
Should you stop walking in the woods?
That choice is yours, and the risk is small: the PDSA calls Alabama rot extremely rare6. None of the UK guidance we read asks owners to give up woodland walks. The Royal Kennel Club says there is no guaranteed way to prevent Alabama rot, and suggests you could keep your dog away from very muddy areas and wash and dry them after a wet or muddy walk4. The PDSA suggests washing your dog's feet after muddy walks and avoiding areas known for cases, as sensible steps if you are concerned6.
We could find no study that has tested whether washing prevents Alabama rot. Treat it as a simple precaution that also gives you a moment to look your dog over, because knowing the signs and spotting the disease early may give a dog a better chance of survival5.
A simple winter routine
- Rinse off the mud, paws first, then dry your dog well4, 6
- Look over legs and paws for redness, swelling or sores
- Check the head, mouth, nose, tongue and tummy too4
- Watch for extra paw licking or a limp1, 6
- If you find a sore, note where you have walked recently, as your vet may ask4
- Check your dog's body once a day for anything new, a habit that helps with ticks too4
- Ring your vet about any sore you can't explain6
What happens at the vet
There is no single test, so your vet will look at the sore, ask when the signs started and where your dog has been, and may run blood and urine tests to see how the kidneys are working. Those tests may need repeating over several days, even if your dog seems well4.
A dog with skin sores is likely to need pain relief while they heal, antibiotics if a wound becomes infected, and perhaps a buster collar to stop licking. If the kidneys are affected, treatment means intensive care, with a hospital stay and a fluid drip6. The sooner supportive care starts, the better a dog's chance of survival is likely to be4.
When your dog comes home caked in mud, use the towelling-off as a minute to look at legs, paws and face. Let your vet see anything you can't explain.
Sources and further reading8 sources
The small numbers in the article link to the source behind each fact. Sources open on their own websites.
- Alabama Rot | CRGV | Information & Questions
- How many pets are there in the UK?
- Spatiotemporal patterns and agroecological risk factors for cutaneous and renal glomerular vasculopathy (Alabama Rot) in dogs in the UK
- Alabama rot
- Alabama Rot FAQs
- Alabama rot in dogs
- Cutaneous and renal glomerular vasculopathy as a cause of acute kidney injury in dogs in the UK
- Clinicopathological features of cutaneous and renal glomerular vasculopathy in 178 dogs