Dog owners in the wider Greater Manchester region are being urged to keep vigilant after a beloved pet has sadly died from Alabama Rot.
Otherwise known as Cutaneous and Renal Glomerular Vasculopathy (CRGV), Alabama Rot is a disease that affects dogs by damaging the blood vessels in the skin and kidneys. This can cause small blood clots to form – resulting in blockages that may lead to tissue damage and visible ulceration in the skin.
When the kidney is affected, it can also lead to severe organ dysfunction, eventual kidney failure – and in a significant number of instances, death.
While the cause of Alabama Rot currently remains unknown, symptoms of the disease in dogs include unexplained redness, sores or swelling of the skin and vomiting, reduced appetite, and tiredness caused by kidney failure.
Alabama Rot has been a serious cause of concern for dog owners in Greater Manchester and the North West in previous years – and now it appears to have reared its ugly head once again over the border in Cheshire.
Rebecca Fox and her husband James have decided to share their tragic experience with Alabama Rot – which happened while they were on holiday in the Delamere Forest with their dogs back in May – with Cheshire Live to raise awareness of the deadly disease.
After being on holiday for a week, the couple noticed that their Cocker Spaniel Millie was frantically licking her paw, limping and reluctant to put her weight on it, so they decided to get some antiseptic spray to see if that would help, but by the Sunday, Millie became “very lethargic”.
They initially put that down to her being tired after an increase in activity level with being on holiday, but it soon became apparent that something more serious was wrong.
Rebecca told Cheshire Live: “We were predominantly in Delamere Forest because that is where we were staying and we walked round and in the forest.
“It was a very wet week and it was awful weather, so it was very muddy everywhere.
“We had been there for a week, and so the next Friday we were all in the log cabin and Millie started frantically licking her front paw, so we thought it had got a bit infected [as] she was limping and holding it up as well by that point.
“It came on really suddenly.”
Rebecca and James Fox were on holiday with their dogs in the Delamere Forest / Credit: Google Maps
Rebecca said the Cocker Spaniel seemed uncharacteristically quiet on the way home and decided to take her to their local vets to treat the infected paw.
They were initially given an antiseptic bathing treatment for the paw, before Millie’s condition began to deteriorate further.
“Initially they sent us away saying it was a paw infection and gave us some antiseptic bathing stuff to put on her,” Rebecca continued.
“By the Tuesday afternoon, she started being sick and that continued all day [and] then she couldn’t move much and couldn’t keep her limbs still, so we took her back at midnight and she stayed at our local vets all night.
“They rang us on the Wednesday to say her kidney numbers were rising dramatically [and] that they were failing basically.”
Despite the best efforts of the vets, Millie started to deteriorate further. The couple made the difficult and devastating decision that the “kindest thing” was to have Millie put down, with her sadly dying on 28 May.
Rebecca continued: “She was only six-years-old, a happy active spaniel [and] it was just how it took her. From finding the paw, to her dying was just seven days and she was a well and happy dog.
“This is why we want to raise awareness of this disease, because of how quickly it takes dogs when it gets hold of their kidneys.”
Heard of #AlabamaRot in dogs? Little is known about it, but we suggest washing off mud after walks and speaking to a vet if you're worried.
Symptoms include: 🐶 Skin lesions (open sores or ulcers), esp. on legs 🐶 Signs of acute kidney injury (drinking more, vomiting, lethargy) pic.twitter.com/gHcFEvRxhK
— RSPCA (England & Wales) (@RSPCA_official) March 27, 2018
Following the loss of their beloved pet, Rebecca and James have now set up a JustGiving page to not only raise awareness, but also to raise funds for research into the cause of the little-known but deadly disease.
The couple has warned dog owners that if they see their pet with an unexplained sore, to take them to the vet as soon as possible.
“We want to help other people recognise the signs,” Rebecca said.
“The disease at the minute is not very well-researched; they don’t have a lot about it at the moment unfortunately.
“We don’t want people to go through what we went through.”
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You can make a donation to Rebecca and James’ fight to find a cure for Alabama Rot via the JustGiving page here.
More information on Alabama Rot can be found via the RSPCA website here.
Featured Image – Rebecca Fox / Cheshire Live
UK News
New ‘postboxes of the future’ are being rolled out across the UK
Danny Jones
The Royal Mail is starting to roll out its line of so-called “postboxes of the future” across the UK this year, including right here in Greater Manchester.
It has been dubbed the most important and noticeable transformation to the classic British postbox in its entire 175-year history.
The national postal service teased the modern-day upgrade earlier this year, but the revolutionary new upgrade was officially announced this week, with Royal Mail ushering in a new era of digitally-driven units that should make many lives a lot easier – at least in theory.
Although they might look pretty identical to the iconic red boxes since before the turn of the 19th century have used up and down the country, there are marked differences between the new and the old ones.
Credit: Royal Mail
The biggest change made to the Royal Mail’s soon-to-be standard design is a digitally activated drop-down drawer, which will be able to fit parcels as big as a shoebox, hopefully saving us Brits on a fair few trips to the post office.
You will be able to scan a barcode via the updated Royal Mail app to activate the drawer for larger items; meanwhile, there will be a separate slot for letters and smaller packages.
Additionally, the new range of high-tech postboxes will also be solar-powered, helping the public limited company chase its ‘green’ targets.
Now owned by parent firm International Distribution Services (IDS) – who also oversee Parcelforce Worldwide – following the UK government’s approval of its historic sale to Czech billionaire Daniel Křetínský at the end of 2024, the group as a whole is undergoing a significant overhaul.
Britain’s new solar postboxes were first trialled back in April in four towns located throughout the Hertfordshire region: Letchworth Garden City, Ware and Hertford. A fifth was later installed in Fowlmere, Cambridgeshire, too.
Despite being quickly considered a success on the whole, the initial design featured an entirely black top, with polls of civilians and Royal Mail themselves agreeing that keeping them red all over was more in keeping with the brand.
It’s like the old school phone box, isn’t it? We can’t picture it any other way.
📮Attention Postbox Lovers 📮
Royal Mail is upgrading postboxes to accept parcels. They'll gaining a new slot and a solar panel on top
Speaking in a statement, the Royal Mail‘s managing director of ‘out-of-home and commercial excellence’, Jack Clarkson, said: “We are all sending and returning more parcels than ever before.
“This trend will only continue as online shopping shows no signs of slowing, particularly with the boom of second-hand marketplaces. There are 115,000 postboxes in the UK located within half a mile of 98% of addresses, making them by far the most convenient network of parcel drop-off points in the UK.
“Our message is clear – if you have a Royal Mail label on your parcel, and it fits, put it in a postbox and we’ll do the rest.”
The new generation postboxes are now being made permanent in the same locations, with Edinburgh, Nottingham, Sheffield and Manchester next.
Keep your eyes peeled on the streets as they’ll soon be making a debut in your area.
Rugby Football League to merge second and third divisions from next year
Danny Jones
The Rugby Football League (RFL) has officially announced that it will be combining the Championship and League One divisions next year as part of a larger restructuring.
Besides the push for phasing out automatic promotion and relegation with the top flight, these will be among the biggest changes in the RFL since the creation of the Super League.
Revealing their plans earlier this week, the rugby authority confirmed that the second and third-tier divisions will be merging, with the changes set to be implemented from 2026 onwards.
You can see the statement in full down below, which has been met with a mix of
Confirmed in a lengthier statement online this past Wednesday, 27 August, the update reads: “The RFL Board have confirmed that the Betfred Championship and League One competitions will be combined in a single division outside the Betfred Super League (BSL) in 2026.
“This follows the decision to expand Super League from 12 clubs to 14, subject to conditions – which was taken by the existing Super League clubs last month.
“A number of fixture formats are being developed following consultation with the Championship and League One clubs, but there will be no final announcement until after the number and identity of clubs in each of the two expanded competitions is confirmed, on Thursday, October 16.
“However, the reversion to a single division outside Super League means the Middle Eights that had been scheduled for the end of the 2025 season, as a means of determining promotion and relegation between Championship and League One, will no longer take place.”
It’s also worth noting that these changes will also see the proposed Super 8s end-of-season fixtures scrapped, as the 12 teams set to compete in the playoff-style tournament are obviously now being combined into one league moving forward.
The Super 8s competition that would involve the top four League One clubs and the bottom four Championship clubs has been abandoned by the Rugby Football League.
It is highly expected that the Championship and League One will merge into one big division of 21 teams next season… pic.twitter.com/WDkshjYTS2
As detailed in the latest communication from the RFL, the League One champions’ prize of £25,000, as well as the usual trophy and medals promised at the start of the season, are still up for grabs; the Championship Play-Offs will still also take place as scheduled.
The winners of the Betfred Championship Grand Final are to receive £100k and 0.25 club grading points.
Commenting on the impending overhaul, Rugby League Commercial Chair Nigel Wood OBE – who headed up the latest strategic review – said: “Following the decision of the Betfred Super League clubs that the elite competition should expand to 14 clubs in 2026, subject to conditions, this is a logical and equally exciting next step.
“The Championship and L1 clubs have been extensively consulted and were virtually unanimous that the two divisional structure for the part-time game wasn’t working as well as it ought, particularly League One – and it is a great credit to the Championship clubs that they recognised that position.”
Reiterating the belief that this is the best way to support and promote “historic and ambitious clubs” outside of the BSL, helping boost attendances, finances and hopefully future investment. It remains a touchy subject for some, though.
The RFL merging divisions may not yet even matter for some.
Speaking of clubs looking for further backing, questions remain over the vetting process for investors and the ‘fit and proper persons tests’ in both rugby and football, especially with the ongoing crisis at Salford Red Devils.
With all that being said, while everyone will have the chance to win the new Championship and perhaps Super League promotion, the likes of Salford are just trying to stay afloat.
Regardless, what do you make of the RFL merging the Championship and League, and do you think it’s the right step for the future of rugby league?
Emily Sergeant -
14th June 2021 
