Flying stinging hairs

29-04-2022

The oak processionary caterpillar and the bastard satin caterpillar have woken up. The nice weather has made them active earlier, which is not so good news for our four-legged friends. Time for an article about these crawling creatures and their flying hairs.

Pest insect
You have to have gone too far to be called that and it is precisely the fur of the caterpillar that is the danger. The fur consists partly of stinging hairs that can cause serious nuisance to humans and animals.
The arrow-shaped hairs with hooks attach to the fur, skin, ears or other soft tissue such as the eyes, throat and tongue. They are also tiny (0.2 to 0.3 millimeters long) and can therefore easily be inhaled. The hairs contain a protein that causes histamine to be released into the blood, causing an allergic reaction.

Symptoms
Not every person or animal has the same allergic reaction. Some are more sensitive than others and there is also a difference in severity between dogs and cats.

What are the symptoms?

Itch:
The histamine causes bumps, redness and swelling on the skin, lips, tongue, eyes and mucous membranes and this causes a lot of itching. This causes them to try to lick it off or rub it off with their paw, which only spreads the hairs and makes it worse.

Drooling, coughing, gagging and vomiting:
The stinging hairs cause irritation in the mouth or in the airways. This can cause them to gag and vomit and, due to shortness of breath, to drool and cough.

Irritated eyes:
The eyes may become red and watery. The irritation may even lead to an infection with possible blindness.

Diarrhea, elevated temperature:
An allergic reaction can also cause your pet to have diarrhea or a (mild) fever. It can possibly go into shock and die.

So keep a close eye on your best friend and contact the vet immediately if you see him or her developing breathing problems, becoming lethargic or exhibiting other serious reactions.

What else can you do?
- check the coat: If you suspect that there are stinging hairs in the coat, you can remove them with something sticky, such as a lint roller. You can also use adhesive tape, but the adhesive layer is stronger, which makes it easy to pull out a lot of hair. Rinse your animal thoroughly with water afterwards;
- check the eyes: if you see your dog or cat rubbing its eyes, take immediate action and rinse the eyes thoroughly with water;
- check the mouth and tongue: if your pet starts drooling a lot, hairs may have gotten into the mouth. Check the tongue and the inside of the mouth for redness and bumps. Rinsing is important here too, but make sure he/she doesn't swallow the water! Keep the mouth down while you rinse the mouth;
- do not rub!: An automatic reaction to itching is to rub, but because the stinging hairs are arrow-shaped, you rub the hairs in deeper;
- be careful with the (fallen) nests: these can be mistaken for a ball. In this case, thorough rinsing is necessary, but not sufficient. Go to the vet immediately for treatment;
- also take care of yourself: if you see that your best friend has something bad, you take action immediately. Logical, but don't forget yourself. Our skin has no fur, so the hairs immediately cause a nuisance. Tape works very well for us. Wearing gloves when you help your buddy can prevent a lot of trouble.

Avoid
You can of course try to avoid the areas with the caterpillars (in season), keep your cat indoors (good luck) or keep your dog on a leash. But the caterpillar uses a handy tool; the wind. That is why we are talking about flying stinging hairs.
In addition, the nests are full of stinging hairs and can cause problems for years to come.

What do they come for?
The oak processionary caterpillar nests in and near oak trees. The trees are in parks, forests, in your garden or in your neighbourhood.
The bastard satin caterpillar is mainly found in the dunes of coastal areas. They are in sea buckthorns, hawthorns, blackthorns, oaks, birches and fruit trees.
The pine processionary caterpillar does not yet occur in the Netherlands. This caterpillar also has (even more) stinging hairs. The expectation is that due to climate change the caterpillar will slowly creep this way.

The caterpillar does not necessarily have to be in every tree. Have you spotted them? Report it to your municipality or on https://www.kad.nl.

High season
The most nuisance from caterpillars occurs in the warm months. The high season starts in May and runs until August.

Source:
https://degroeneos.nl/de-beruchte-eikenprocessierups-en-het-gevaar-voor-onze-dieren/
https://www.vanderpigge.nl/gezondheid/tips-van-pigge-bij-de-eikenprocessierups/
https://www.zorgwijzer.nl/zorgwijzers/processierups
https://mcvoordieren.nl/kennisbank/processierups/
https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eikenprocessierrup

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