One very, very unhappy Wilf.

Somehow, I don't know how and I don't know when, Wilf has had a run in with poisonous catepillars. Last night he came in from the garden and ran straight up to me his mouth, gums,tongue, eyes and underside all horribly red, swollen and sore. To begin with I thought it was a severe reaction to a wasp sting but then as his scratching and crying continued the horrible truth struck home - processionary caterpillars. These dreadful critters are about 4 cm's long , live in large nests on the top of pine trees, and come down , in a long single file containing hundreds of them, in search of food. The problem is that they are covered in tens of thousands of defensive hairs coated in poisonous toxins . When disturbed they eject these toxic darts which can cause a severe allergic reaction to both people and dogs if touched or inhaled. Necrosis , where the dog loses all or part of its tongue, is the outcome. They used to occur only in southern Europe but now,with climate change, they are spreading further and further north and have even made it to England. Readers of the previous 'Life in Italy' blog will remember the same thing happened to Wilf last year. Lightning does strike twice!

'The font' is away so I hastily phoned the local vet to describe the symptoms. The conversation went along the lines of : "No, it is quite impossible for it to be caterpillars. They don't come down from the trees until April at the earliest. He must have licked a poisonous toad. Anyway, you'd better bring him in". Thank God I did bring him in. By the time I got to the vets my hands and fingers had turned red and started to swell in reaction to the irritants that I got from just touching Wilfs coat.

The vet took one look at my swollen hands and eyes and without having to say any more immediately knew the diagnosis. We are the first local victims of caterpillar poisoning in 2010. Wilf was given a cortisone shot, had his heart and lungs checked and was prescribed strong anti-histamines. He finally fell asleep on the floor beside me at around two this morning and didn't wake until six.. We now have to wait to see what damage has been done to his tongue - I'm just hoping and praying that he won't have to have it removed. The good news is that he seems much less agitated this morning, wanted a walk and is decidedly unhappy at having to be given water from a plastic syringe. I take his uncharacteristic truculence as a sign that all will be well.