# Close Call with the PP Caterpillars



## Garcia (Mar 5, 2010)

Let the dogs out in the garden this morning. Half hour later, looked out the door and one of the dogs was sniffing a line of the horrible P.P. Caterpillars that was walking across our step. We’ve had all our pines sprayed but the surrounding countryside is full of pines. Only saying to the wife yesterday that there have been many fewer nests on view this year. Last year there were hundreds of nests and yet we had none of the nasties in the garden. 
Anyway, Grabbed the dog. She started sneezing and her top lip swelled up. Don’t think she’d eaten one, just sniffed at the line.
Washed the mouth, jaws and tongue many times in clean water, gave a cortisone tablet and headed for the vet. Vet reckons I caught it in time. On the cortisone for a Coupla days. Swelling has gone down already, so...a close call, but I think we’reOK.
If you are 
Visiting Portugal (or Spain) with your dog in Spring....be vigilant!!!
Garcia


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## Spacerunner (Mar 18, 2006)

We stopped at a garage a couple of years ago in mid-Portugal and discovered a marching line of caterpillars. Fascinating and was tempted to turn the line into a circle but thought better of it!


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## Penquin (Oct 15, 2007)

I think I might have been tempted to spread such a line it into a flat pack of the little burgers but there is always the "What if?" question.....


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## Garcia (Mar 5, 2010)

Well, my pest control man came back this afternoon and found 2 nests. Cut them out and burned them.
I swept up the caterpillars this morning, carefully, into a cornflake box. Filled it with paper and burned them. Hopefully we are now clear again.
Tho my man did say they can travel many meters.
G


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## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

We burn them and bin them too.


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## JanHank (Mar 29, 2015)

What are PP caterpillars?


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## dghr272 (Jun 14, 2012)

JanHank said:


> What are PP caterpillars?


Here you go Jan.....

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pine_processionary

Terry


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## chasper (Apr 20, 2008)

I knew someone who did that, but somehow managed to set himself on fire in the process, he did not live to tell the tale. And that was is Wales.


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## coppo (May 27, 2009)

Isn't nature so diverse and fascinating.


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## Garcia (Mar 5, 2010)

coppo said:


> Isn't nature so diverse and fascinating.


It certainly is. There are just times though when i'd like it to be fascinating somewhere else!!!! 
Those bugs are seriously unpleasant!
Garcia


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## patp (Apr 30, 2007)

We met someone who kept a can of hairspray in the van as that is a good first aid measure, to spray them with, to stop them firing their spines at you.


Well done, Garcia, on saving your dog!


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## TheSlug (Jan 2, 2018)

quick question guys, what do you do if dog eats them and you can't get to a vet?


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## Garcia (Mar 5, 2010)

TheSlug said:


> quick question guys, what do you do if dog eats them and you can't get to a vet?


My vet told me the only thing you can do is wash , wash, wash, and wash again in clean water ASAP.....then a cortisone tab and then the vet.....

My vet gave me a prescription for 
Lepicortinolo 20 mg

To use if I thought the dogs had come into contact with the beasts....I keep a couple in my bag at all times this time of year.....
Garcia


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## Garcia (Mar 5, 2010)

patp said:


> We met someone who kept a can of hairspray in the van as that is a good first aid measure, to spray them with, to stop them firing their spines at you.
> 
> Well done, Garcia, on saving your dog!


I've heard of people who use hair spray...it seals the hairs on the caterpillar so they can be swept up without dispersing the hairs...trouble is my missus never uses the stuff and I wouldn't know what to buy.
My pest control man said that burning is really the only solution, but even then you need to be careful and stay up wind of any fire as the hairs will blow away on the breeze.
G


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## TheSlug (Jan 2, 2018)

Garcia said:


> My vet told me the only thing you can do is wash , wash, wash, and wash again in clean water ASAP.....then a cortisone tab and then the vet.....
> 
> My vet gave me a prescription for
> Lepicortinolo 20 mg
> ...


so i need to go see the vet and get some Lepicortinolo 20 mg & cortisone tab
many thanks 
Garcia


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## Garcia (Mar 5, 2010)

TheSlug said:


> so i need to go see the vet and get some Lepicortinolo 20 mg & cortisone tab
> many thanks
> Garcia


I would speak to your vet...here in Portugal, many medicines are available without prescription. My vet gave me this prescription because one of my other dogs got stung by something, and she said these Cortisones are good for the effects of the caterpillars, and we can be inundated with caterpillars here.
So, I keep them in my bag. Saw a pile of caterpillars out on the main road this afternoon when walking the dogs....they are just horrible beasts.....
And you need to be vigilant here from Feb to end April
G


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## patp (Apr 30, 2007)

Just to say it is not just dogs that need protection. People can be very severely affected by them. Someone I spoke to was stung by them when she brushed off a mat she had placed over a fence. Her arm swelled up enormously!


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## Sparky John (Jan 24, 2018)

Very interesting to read about the PP caterpillars. We often take our dogs through local pine woods and I have never heard of these things. We have two dogs Billy and Rosie which are lakeland border terrier cross.
Billy the bigger dog in the attached picture is allergic to mosquito bites and if he gets bitten he comes out in large lumps all over his body and is nearly driven crazy to trying to itch them all. The only solution we have found so far is for the vet to give him an injection of a steroid which tends to calm him very quickly I was wondering if any of you had any experience of this.I see Garcia said they had cortisone tablets, are these available over the counter or is it a prescription from the vet. The first time it happened we had to take him to an out of hours vet and it cost us over £300 for the consultation and injection. We love him to bits but if there is a cheaper solution we would love to hear it. We just hope if he came across these hairy horrors he wouldn't have the same reaction as the mozzy bites.


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## patp (Apr 30, 2007)

I would phone your vet (free!) and ask them to look up your notes and then see if there is a tablet form of the injection (or a similar drug) that you could keep by you in the mozzy season. They will be more than happy not to have a call out the next time he gets bitten


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## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

Sparky John said:


> Very interesting to read about the PP caterpillars. We often take our dogs through local pine woods and I have never heard of these things. We have two dogs Billy and Rosie which are lakeland border terrier cross.
> Billy the bigger dog in the attached picture is allergic to mosquito bites and if he gets bitten he comes out in large lumps all over his body and is nearly driven crazy to trying to itch them all. The only solution we have found so far is for the vet to give him an injection of a steroid which tends to calm him very quickly I was wondering if any of you had any experience of this.I see Garcia said they had cortisone tablets, are these available over the counter or is it a prescription from the vet. The first time it happened we had to take him to an out of hours vet and it cost us over £300 for the consultation and injection. We love him to bits but if there is a cheaper solution we would love to hear it. We just hope if he came across these hairy horrors he wouldn't have the same reaction as the mozzy bites.


PPs are, so far, quite rare in the UK. There are some around London. See the map on this page: https://blog.dogbuddy.com/advice/healthcare/pine-processionary-caterpillar/#.Wp8AxxclFo4


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## Spacerunner (Mar 18, 2006)

erneboy said:


> PPs are, so far, quite rare in the UK. There are some around London. See the map on this page: https://blog.dogbuddy.com/advice/healthcare/pine-processionary-caterpillar/#.Wp8AxxclFo4


You're wrong there Ernie. Lots of warnings in Hampshire and other Southern counties. Langston's Harbour is rife with them.
Thirty years ago we had them on silver birches in the garden. I cut the cacoons down and burnt them. Then cut the birches down and burnt those too.
With processionary caterpillars, Lyme's Disease and Alabama Rot southern England is fast becoming an unhealthy place for dogs.


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## patp (Apr 30, 2007)

Thanks for the link. It does not mention the danger to children. One small child made a necklace of the caterpillars with disastrous consequences. I met someone who brushed one off a mat and her whole arm swelled up like a balloon.


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## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

Spacerunner said:


> You're wrong there Ernie. Lots of warnings in Hampshire and other Southern counties. Langston's Harbour is rife with them.
> Thirty years ago we had them on silver birches in the garden. I cut the cacoons down and burnt them. Then cut the birches down and burnt those too.
> With processionary caterpillars, Lyme's Disease and Alabama Rot southern England is fast becoming an unhealthy place for dogs.


I didn't know so I looked it up. It's a pity the site is wrong some accurate information would help.

The Oak processionary caterpillar which is also toxic gets a lot of publicity and seems to be more widespread than the PP https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/wildlife/10804678/Health-warning-over-toxic-caterpillars.html


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## patp (Apr 30, 2007)

I think the confusion may lie in them being called Pine or Oak Processionary caterpillars. When they were first identified over here they were known as Oak Processionary Caterpillars but abroad it is Pine. Whichever they are they are horrible things.
Here in East Anglia dogs are suffering severe poisoning from crustaceans washed up on the beaches of the East Coast. Several dogs have died before reaching the vet


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## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

I'd assumed they were two separate species, not that it makes much difference as far as animals go since both are harmful.

It seems they are: https://www.anses.fr/en/content/con...illars-urban-areas-anses-recommends-combining

which at least means they won't transfer from Oak to Pine or the other way round.


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## patp (Apr 30, 2007)

Aah - that makes it clearer.


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## StewartJ (Nov 20, 2009)

Thousands of nests in pine forests in hills inland of Moncofa late February with countless processions of the caterpillars on the roads.


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## patp (Apr 30, 2007)

Scary!


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