I tried to copy something I had written about Processional Pine Caterpillars onto here but it did not work!!! This is a very short version but I hope people will read it and pass the message on, sadly I have not been able to put the photo's on as I did with the other piece.
I had never heard of these caterpillars except that they walked around in lines in the Alemeda Gardens in Gibraltar , you find them in France, Spain and Gibraltar, they nest in pine trees. One of my cockers suffers from allergies and when her tongue started to swell, she was dribbling I was on the alert, she then had a seizure and obviously I rushed her to the vet, it was not her allergies but these caterpillars, she had touched one. Over the following days the smell was so awful you really felt you needed to keep your nose covered, it was rotting flesh, my vet told me part of her tongue was going to fall off, as you can imagine I felt dreadful my poor Poppy if only I had taken 5 mins to look on the internet to see what was in our area that could harm her she could have been saved all this stress.
Another of my cockers went through the same thing even though they were no longer allowed in the garden and she also lost part of her tongue. My other 4 dogs then started with what sounded like really bad kennel cough, took them to be checked and it was the dust from these caterpillars that had caused the distressing cough they all had.
Please even if we only save one dog from me writing this pass the message on.
Many thanks
Fi
