Cats, Humans and Lyme

So my mum has a cat that had Lyme a couple of years ago. She took it to the vets for treatment and it got one round of medication and it was cured of the Lyme spirochete. Apparently, according to her vet there is ongoing research to try and figure out why the infection can be cured in cats but not humans. I've been trying to find documentation on this but haven't been able to find any info. Has anyone heard of this?

I had often wondered if the Lyme test my dog got at the vet was flawed in the same way human tests are. If they're more advanced/reliable, how does that work out? I've read about the tests in the past and it looked like it was just an ELISA screen.

As a side note, it's sort of amusing to read about canine Lyme treatment. It's standard protocol to treat at least until symptoms are long gone, they warn about relapse due to inadequate duration or dosing of abx, they clearly state that the disease is much more difficult and maybe impossible to actually cure in a late-stage infection. In such cases treatment is managed by intermittent abx to keep symptoms under control. No contraversy, no magical 4 week cures of late stage infections, no mysterious autoimmune mumbo jumbo.

Someone should alert the IDSA so they can start shutting down vets offices!

Post Edited (Spall) : 9/19/2011 9:26:33 AM (GMT-6)

im with traveler....i would go be treated by a vet...maybe thats what we need to do...open a vets office and let the vet treat animals AND humans.....and they wont be under suspicion....i would change my name to FLUFFY and eat alpo.....lol

Well, I 'm sure guilty of treating my pets better than I treat myself! Two of my three dogs have been rescue dogs as well, and they certainly do come with their own 'traumatic memory', as you said Miss C. Don't put your foot out to my little male, he'll likely take it off! My assumption is that he was kicked a lot. Poor guy! My little female -well, she was beaten- it obvious, and if you raise your voice? Well she's gone and under the covers on my bed in a heartbeat! It can still break my heart! LOL! I could go on forever talking about my critters! Sorry!

Anyway, I agree with Miss C and Deejavu - but I can't agree with you Brokenangel - not eating Alpo! Maybe dried Pedigree, but not Alpo!!!

Oh tell me it isn't so!!! Pedigree better than what you eat now??? Oh ick!

I have 2 theories for why animals recover quicker than humans.

Dog/Cat years are calculated to give a general comparison to a similar human age. 1 Earth year = about 5 dog years. Let's say Joe and his dog Fluffy both get Lyme and then get treated at the same time. If it takes Joe 1 year to recover then that means it should only take Fluffy about 2 or 3 months.

My other theory is that since animals are not self aware (except possibly dolphins), they do not become overly sensitive to the negative changes in their bodies as humans do. They are living in the moment thinking about food and survival not dwelling on negative thoughts like how they used to feel better before they got sick. Most likely, they have no idea they were even sick and don't even know what sick means. Since animals are not self aware and don't have emotions, the entire emotional aspect of the disease is absent. No depression or anxiety = faster recovery.

Combine these 2 theories and it would explain the super fast recoveries of animals with Lyme.

Golly, of course animals have emotions!  I had 2 dogs that I loved very much (I still miss them) and they let me know when they were happy or sad...  When they were upset or angry with me (for leaving them alone too long)..

Self-aware?  My dogs would lick their wounds.. They knew what hurt and most of the time (depending on the situation), knew how to heal their own wounds..

One of my dogs loved to eat charcoal and I found out the medical reason for that..  but that's another story...

Sunnyman, I didn't know that most animals can produce Vitamin C, that so interesting!

Animals are healing to one's soul...  At least to my soul...  

Funny, whenever I met someone and introduced that person to my animals, my animals let me know if that person was not nice or very nice (amazing sense they have!)..  I would never be friends with a human that did not like animals... But that's me..

Denise