lyme doubts final cleared up

I took my dog to the vet this weekend. She got a heartworm test which included testing for basic tickborne diseases. I'd kind of forgotten about it, and so when the vet called saying she wanted to talk to me about the results, I was worried about heartworm. Turns out, my dog is positive for lyme, which feels sort of like a final confirmation that my lyme was in fact accurate, despite what the ID Dr at Kaiser told me.

I do have a few comments though.

1) Why is animal testing so much faster than people?? She tested on Saturday, and I already got results today!

2)Why is animal lyme testing considered more accurate? The vet said it was a confirmed positive, as in it has to be reported. My test wasn't CDC positive therefore I'm not even counted in the number of cases of lyme!

3) I wonder if I'd gotten her tested when I first got sick if they'd have been more likely to believe me in a non-endemic area like Oregon?

PDXtransplant said...


1) Why is animal testing so much faster than people?? She tested on Saturday, and I already got results today!

2)Why is animal lyme testing considered more accurate? The vet said it was a confirmed positive, as in it has to be reported. My test wasn't CDC positive therefore I'm not even counted in the number of cases of lyme!

3) I wonder if I'd gotten her tested when I first got sick if they'd have been more likely to believe me in a non-endemic area like Oregon?

It seems that the Lyme testing on dogs is different than the tests for humans. I found the article below that describes it best:

Several tests can identify the Borrelia burgdorferi organism in blood or tissues. However, many veterinarians test for Lyme disease using a test called a SNAP test. SNAP tests are a group of quick, convenient blood tests that can be performed at your veterinarian’s office. There are various SNAP tests for different purposes:

SNAP Heartworm RT Test: Screens for heartworm infection
SNAP 3Dx Test: Simultaneously screens for heartworm disease, Lyme disease, and ehrlichiosis (another tick-borne disease that can affect dogs)
SNAP 4Dx Test: Simultaneously screens for heartworm disease, Lyme disease, ehrlichiosis, and anaplasmosis (also a tick-borne disease that can cause illness in dogs)
SNAP testing is very accurate and is a good way to identify dogs that may be infected with one or more of these diseases. SNAP testing is also very convenient because it uses a very small amount of blood and takes only a few minutes to perform.

Dogs that test positive for Lyme disease on the SNAP test and have clinical signs consistent with Lyme disease usually receive treatment. However, treatment may not be necessary for dogs that test positive on the SNAP test but show no clinical signs. In these cases, your veterinarian may want to run an additional test (called a quantitative C6 antibody test or QC6 antibody test) to determine whether treatment is recommended.

In some cases, your veterinarian may recommend additional testing to follow up a SNAP test result or to look for other evidence of illness related to heartworm disease or a tick-borne infection. Testing may involve sending additional blood samples to a laboratory for further analysis or performing other diagnostic tests to obtain more information about your dog’s condition.