DOG owners have been warned to be on their guard after another suspected case of a killer disease in Hampshire

An eight-year-old cocker spaniel named Baxter has died following kidney failure after having a lesion to his paw following a walk in the New Forest.

His owner Jennie Davies first noticed that he had a sore paw and tests at a vetrinary surgery showed strong indications of kidney failure.

He was taken to veterinary specialists Anderson Moore in Hursley, which specialises in treating Alabama Rot also known as Cutaneous and Renal Glomerular Vasculopathy (CRGV).

Sadly he to be put to sleep last weekend.

Jennie said: "It was such a nasty shock. I’m a widow and he has been my companion for 8 and a half years. I got him a year and a half after my husband died.”

"I want people to be aware that the illness is out there, to be vigilant and check that their dogs don’t have sores."

She added: “I know he was a happy dog. He had a very happy life.”

The disease, CRGV, has been known about since the late 1980s in the USA.

Since 2012 a number of suspected and confirmed cases have been seen throughout the UK - including the New Forest.

Dogs reported with the disease usually suffer kidney failure or skin lesions.

Other symptoms may involve dogs being very thirsty, depressed, going off their food or vomiting.

The cause of the disease remains unknown.

Jennie said Baxter visited a number of places the New Forest such as Longslade Bottom, Wilverley Enclosure, and Setley but was mostly walked on the sea wall between Lymington and Keyhaven.

Heather Gould, chairman of the New Forest Dog Owners Group (NFDOG), advised dog owners to stay vigilant.

She said: ""atch your dogs, wash them if they are muddy, look for any sores or lesions and if worried go to the vet at the earliest opportunity.

"We don’t know the cause of it yet. There are no ‘hot spots’.

"A couple of years ago there were but it’s now happening all over the country and not just the New Forest.”