Be careful what you lick

After a rough two weeks of an ear infection and the stomach flu all around (yes all 4), I started to understand moms that run away.  I was exhausted and suffered two days of the stomach flu too.  Oh, and I broke a tooth some time in there.  I just NEEDED a break.  I asked God to give something good.  I got a sick dog instead.

Over the weekend, I saw some articles popping up on my Valencia expat boards.  I kind of looked at them and it was a bit scary.  Procesionaria del pino otherwise known as processionary caterpillars or pine caterpillars

Kind of cute right?

Wrong!

These things are poisonous!  And can kill dogs!  Truthfully, I didn't think much about it.  It made it sound like you had to be roaming the woods or something to come across them.  We have two pine trees in the back of our garden.  I peaked at them and didn't see anything that looked like a nest.  I was sure we didn't have to worry about it.  I walk the dogs on sidewalks.  And we will just avoid the trails until April.

Sunday evening, Joel noticed Kuş was drooling quite a bit. Çekiç had been drooling like that the night before but we know he hurt himself trying to bite a fence.  He isn't too bright sometimes.  Anyways, Kuş was having troubles eating.  So Joel looked into her mouth and there was a white patch.  It really looked like she had a paper towel stuck to her tongue.  It was really bothering her when she ate but other than that and being kind of cranky, she acted normal.  I mentioned the caterpillars but she wasn't showing any other signs.  And they are pretty bad.  I mean a swollen tongue is pretty obvious but she didn't have one.

The next morning, I had to get her into be seen by a Vet.  Her mouth smell horrible and it was starting to look a little green.  Of course, Joel is just going to send ME to the local vet alone to figure it out.  Thanks dear.  But my lovely friend Roz came to assist.  Her basic español is way better than mine.  So we pop around the corner, and lo and behold, BOTH speak English!! A huge THANKS to 

Centro Veterinarion integral La Cañada! Kuş has indeed come in contact with one of those caterpillars.  She did amazing in the office.  She got two shots and some follow up Antibiotics and steroids.  She will be making a full recovery.  While we were waiting to check out, a guy ran in with a HUGE bulldog.  You can immediately tell that his tongue was swollen.  It as HUGE!  He was having a seizure as we were leaving.  The Vet said that they get dogs in daily.  Crazy!  I had never heard of such a thing.

Later that day, Jocy told me they had them at their school and one of the playgrounds was closed.  Then Joel tells me that they are battling them at the plant.  Thankfully, they are less deadly to humans.  Well as long as you aren't dumb enough to eat one.  You just end up with a pretty painful rash from the poison.  

Kuş is back to her normal self.  That spot on her tongue fell off the next day.  It looks crazy, but looks to be healing well.  She goes in for a check on Saturday.  Now that  I have had a few uneventful days, I look back and realize it was a good thing.  Now we have a Vet right next to Jocy's bus stop.  They do 24 hour emergency care and will come to your house.  Kind of reminds me when we were having troubles finding an OB..... then we had the car accident and we ended up seeing Dr. Canam!