Any one know much about ticks?

Here's what happening;
Indoor Kitty - Nice fat kitty, gets thin - bring to vet - $500 later (blood work-ups, x-rays, etc.) we find out kitty has a blood-borne parasite likely caused by a tick. Lyme disease, no, vet says this is more likely similar to a dog tick. Ask vet: can this parasite affect humans....maybe but rare, but in Africa it has happened - - -red flags - we had a ball python, farm raised, that came in with ticks........
What do you guys think? Did kitty come in contact with one of the snake ticks? Anyone have any history or experiences? Can snake ticks affect mammals?
Thanks to all who can shed light to this for us.

Do you know what the parasite is? It would be a lot easier to figure out where it came from if you knew what the parasite is. I've never had any snakes with ticks, so I can't help you much on that aspect. But ticks we have normally around here can carry several different kinds of parasites and diseases.

It's pretty easy for outside ticks to travel inside on our clothing.....I know when my hubby was out cutting wood or something in the grove, I've caught a tick or 2 crawling up the wall near the dirty clothes basket when he tosses his work jeans in there. The kids have brought them in when they are out riding the go-kart thru the grove or tall weedy areas. Or, the dogs can bring them in....I keep even my indoor kitty on the Frontline flea and tick stuff, just to be on the safe side.

The only thing the vet said is the blood-borne parasite is common to dog ticks, not wood ticks or deer ticks. Elliot, the kitty, has no access to a dog so we were wondering if one of the snake ticks jumped off when we were taking them off the snake or escaped the reptile relief treatment, afterward.
Elliot starts prednisone with his antibiotic treatment today. Hopefully, the steroid will increase his appetite. It is hard to get a stubborn kitty to eat something before he gets his pill. (he's even turning up his nose at tuna straight from the can!) The other kitty in the house is not affected at all. In fact, she is gladly eating all of Elliot's leftovers!
Ticks are sneaky things, but I haven't been near any dogs to transfer ticks and the roomy surely hasn't - he dislikes dogs. Alot of questions. I wish the vet could give us a few more answers. I'd like to avoid this happening again.

Karen,

If you can get the exact Latin name of the parasite I will do some searching for you.

"Dog tick" is just the common name for the species- they can and will feed on other hosts, as well, so there's no telling where it came from.