Processional Pine Caterpillars - Beware!

It was this time last year, almost exactly to the day, that Laura saw the dreaded Processional Pine Caterpillars in her garden. My neighbour in Spain has sent me this photo (below) that he took just this week, of the caterpillars on the march again. Therefore everyone beware as it's now, in mid to late February, that they are at their most dangerous, especially to animals but also to humans. Read more about them on this link from last year:
safety-security-information-and-property-in-spain-hints-and-tips-f78/beware-of-caterpillars-t533.html

We lived in Altea Hills and our garden was surrounded with pinos trees all 950 sq metres, we never once had a nest of these caterpillars this was because over there the council treated all the trees, now down here they do not treat so they're in abundance, best thing to have in the house or when you walk your dog is an injection of steroids. if your dog is affected you give one injection into their rump it helps quickly and gives you the time to take to the vets. Also been told if it is in their mouth to flush their mouth out with fast water. You can buy the steroids from the pharmacy amount given depends on the size of the dog, our dog is 65kg we had three lots, the pharmacy will tell you how much to inject they are called Urbason polvo y disolvente para solucion inyectable, (English Predisalone injection) in other words you have one phial of liquid which you add to a phial of powder which you give a good shake to mix and then push the needle into the phial and draw the liquid out, then inject into your dogs rump, you can inject a second time but must be at least 30 mins after the first one, cost of this just over 2€ not a bad price to save your pets. Hope this helps as even the hairs can come off the caterpillars and blow in the wind. horrible pests!!

wheeltad wrote:We lived in Altea Hills and our garden was surrounded with pinos trees all 950 sq metres, we never once had a nest of these caterpillars this was because over there the council treated all the trees, now down here they do not treat so they're in abundance, best thing to have in the house or when you walk your dog is an injection of steroids. if your dog is affected you give one injection into their rump it helps quickly and gives you the time to take to the vets. Also been told if it is in their mouth to flush their mouth out with fast water. You can buy the steroids from the pharmacy amount given depends on the size of the dog, our dog is 65kg we had three lots, the pharmacy will tell you how much to inject they are called Urbason polvo y disolvente para solucion inyectable, (English Predisalone injection) in other words you have one phial of liquid which you add to a phial of powder which you give a good shake to mix and then push the needle into the phial and draw the liquid out, then inject into your dogs rump, you can inject a second time but must be at least 30 mins after the first one, cost of this just over 2€ not a bad price to save your pets. Hope this helps as even the hairs can come off the caterpillars and blow in the wind. horrible pests!!

Thank you wheeltad for the good advice. If I had dogs I would most definitely buy these injections to keep as a safeguard. The thing with pet dogs is they need to be exercised and walked and although it's best not to go near pine areas at this time of year, you never know if these things are travelling on the ground under their feet or the hairs are blowing in the wind.

It looks like a campaign is needed to get the council to spray the trees in the areas they are responsible for!



Jan.

I put a instancia generic to the ayuntamiento de rojales on the 12 feb,- reguarding the pine trees in main street Quesada ,--they have the nests of the caterpillars in them now,--so BEWARE dog walkers.

A van went around the La Fiesta area on Tuesday and sprayed the pine trees, at the time I didn't know why. I noticed in Quesada opposite the tennis courts a load of dead caterpillars so perhaps they have sprayed there as well.

Guapa wrote:Evil they are, they are SO dangerous & the worrying thing is not many know that. It's a kids thing to play with caterpillars but keep them well away from these.

My friend's dog lost half it's tongue due to sniffing these caterpillars, he almost lost his life. If you or your animals are in contact get to a hospital/vets immediately.

Read http://www.petvetkamu.com/articles_file ... rpilar.htm

http://journals.tubitak.gov.tr/veterina ... 112-41.pdf

http://www.doggieangells.org/adopt/the- ... terpillar/

http://www.thegrapevine.es/articles/21- ... wdDCX8gGSM

An excellent read is http://www.mythankyoupage.com/pets-and- ... -portugal/

There are thousands hanging in the pine trees at the Guardamar dunes. It's beautiful there & people take their dogs. If I had a dog I certainly wouldn't. To get to these dunes drive through Guardamar Main Street (towards La Marina) & you'll see a sign directing you to turn right, to the dunes. You then need to park as you must walk.

image.jpg

Thanks for the info and links Guapa. I haven't had time to read the links yet but I will later...too busy enjoying the sun in Bournemouth. To quote the famous song... .It's been a long cold lonely Winter - It seems like years since it's been here. Here comes the sun.

Jan

A vet said on the radio this am that you should flush the pet's mouth with water, preferably salty, and get to the vet pronto. So it's a good idea to have a bottle of salty water with you on walkies. I haven't seen any in Doña Pepa II this year so far, but haven't been especially looking.

tjtrev wrote:I put a instancia generic to the ayuntamiento de rojales on the 12 feb,- reguarding the pine trees in main street Quesada ,--they have the nests of the caterpillars in them now,--so BEWARE dog walkers.

That's good! Hopefully that's why they are spraying in some places now. How did you do it?- Is there a form to fill in that you have to get from the Ayuntmiento? I can't find any 'contact' details on the Rojales website. If anyone has a contact email address for either of the town halls Rojales or Quesada can you let me know? I often want to ask about things, when we are in the UK, but can't make contact.


Jan.

RogerB wrote:A vet said on the radio this am that you should flush the pet's mouth with water, preferably salty, and get to the vet pronto. So it's a good idea to have a bottle of salty water with you on walkies. I haven't seen any in Doña Pepa II this year so far, but haven't been especially looking.

This morning main street Quesada, I cleaned up about 100 caterpillars took them to the town hall in Quesada,---now the remaining nests have been removed,-- If you want anything doing --do it yourself.