Research/papers/articles/pamphlets needed showing cats can pass ticks with Lyme disease to humans.
I visited my GP about suspected Lyme disease. I have the symptoms and two months removed two large ticks from my cat which I now know to be deer ticks. My GP phoned a "specialist" who said that "the ticks responsible for lyme disease are never found on cats." Research on the net suggests this is categorically false and that they do. My GP said she will reconsider if I can show her research showing that cats can transfer ticks with Lyme disease to humans.
Please help me in this quest and send me any papers or articles you are aware of!
My advice to you is to go directly to this website. They supported me brilliantly when I went through Lyme Disease in the summer. Astonishing that your doctor places the pressure on you to go out and find research to back her assumptions about ticks. Email Lyme Disease Action, who are a recognised source of information by Public Health England and the NHS. They have an email address and will make contact with you fairly quickly. Here's the website: www.lymediseaseaction.org.uk
Don't waste your time trying to look for "evidence" about cats and ticks. There's so much conflicting advice out there and this really isn't your job. GPs are paid to support and treat patients, not set them little projects to do.
Good luck and remember you can always see another GP if you want to.
Hi Morgan,
Please email the lyme disease association UK. One of the ladies that run the site ROUTINELY picks ticks from her cats, and collects them. She has herself had lyme disease TWICE. LDA are full of accurate information you can share with your GP without being dismissed. Good luck !
Thank you all, I've contacted LDA and found them a wonderful resource. The GP treatment has left me scratching my head to say the least!!
I'm rapidly coming to the conclusion that I can't rely on the GP for this... Does anyone know someone who got the ELAS/western blot tests privately in London? If the service was any good, where is it so I can book myself in!?
It scares me that this "specialist" (SPECIALIST, yet!) gave such outlandish infomation. Was there a terrible communication error? This is giving them a lotf credit - but it's true that cats very, very rarely GET Lyme even when they have engorged deer ticks. However, that tick, if infected prior to getting onto the cat, can certainly give you Lyme if it gets on YOU. As can any animal!!! (Trust me, I have had Lyme since 1985 and live in southeastern Connecticut!!)