Cat MRI please tell me what to do!

[Problemnumber99]

My little cat is about 15/16 and has been acting a bit odd lately, very clingy and uncomfortable. I always use prescribed flea treatment as she's allergic to flea bites but I ran out. As she HATES the vet, I thought I'd give front line a go. It hasn't worked and she's so scabby and itchy. She's an indoor cat (her choice) but I have a dog. She came to me as a rescue 12 years ago covered in them.

I took her to the vet Friday to get a new prescription and thought it was a good time for a little MOT having been a bit off, so she had some bloods taken.

Then today she had quite a bad fit, so I got an emergency app at the vet, who in a 4 minute appointment said I needed an emergency MRI. The specialist vet rang me 45 mins later and said tomorrow morning at 10am and £4000. I'm only insured to £1000 per illness (didn't read the small print).

I don't begrudge finding the money for her, but I'm uneasy spending it without exploring options, or at least understanding a likely prognosis. Surely an MRI is if all other avenues have come up blank? I just look at her and feel so awful for saying it but equally I'm a single mum and have to be wise with money, and at the moment I feel a bit like they saw me coming!

Am I wrong?! What would you do?

Thank you ❤️

I could not (because I don’t have) £3k spare so, even with insurance, I could not do this. I adore my cat, but I would have to explore other options/treatments or, if she was suffering, pts without treatment.

I wouldn’t do it because mri means anaesthetic right? And I wouldn’t do that with a 15/16 year old cat unless it was last resort.

I wouldn't put a 16yo cat under anaesthetic for a one-off fit, no.

I'd wait and see how she was with the view to having her PTS if she declined.

Thank you @lifebeginsaftercoffee and @Trufflump this also worried me but you need someone else to say it when it's your cat and you feel so guilty 😔 It would be anaesthetic to have it done. And a whole day at the vet without me which would be hell for her.

@YoureTheOneBeepingTheHornOverACheeseBurger I don't either, it would cripple me and my credit card!

I wouldn’t do it. Massively because of the money but also

• A GA is a lot to put an elderly and unwell cat through
• What is the point if the results? If she has had a fit because of a bleed or a brain tumour then what are they going to do about it? Will the results change the medical management at all? If it doesn’t show anything then what are they going to do?
• Sometimes people/animals have a fit and then recover and don’t have another. She is not a cat who has fits. She is a cat who has had a fit.

I agree that I feel you should have had more of a discussion about why an mri is needed, what the possible & likely outcomes are, the prognoses, etc, in order to make an informed decision.

Definitely wouldn't do it as much as I love my cats we just couldn't afford that much money. For an elderly cat it would just be cruel to put them through it all anyway.

Even if she was much younger I'm not sure I would pay for an MRI for a one-off fit, to be honest.

Sometimes animals have a fit and it never happens again - it's not something that needs to be investigated under MRI unless it's chronic and causing other issues imo.

But at sixteen - well, I wouldn't put my cat through all of that for something that may not be an issue, especially because at that age I would PTS over any invasive treatment anyway.

Thank you so much for all of your replies. I'm going to say no to the MRI and push to explore other options. As much as I adore her I don't think it's right.

@Zwicky this is exactly what I came away thinking. If the prognosis is bad what will the stress and money have achieved, and if it's not conclusive, what would we do.. Whatever that is I think we should start with it.

Hopefully not every vets the same, but I felt it was more about making money than doing what's best for her. The vets first question was 'are you insured' , not 'how is she now' 😔

@Problemnumber99 OK so a dog not a cat - but our most recent visit the vet did say at that age ( Dog 15 ) is it ethical to put them through all those procedures under GA when realistically what can they do at that age.

I would not and would go back and ask what are the other options ( and be prepared for the worst ) - but I definitely would not rush straight into a £4k scan without being talked through all the options and what might happen if they end up with a prognosis . This is nothing to do with how much you love your cat , it is more it doesn't sound like they have talked you through everything or considered how these procedures may affect little kitty .

Yes agree very much with this second bullet. My cat had cancer. We declined a scan to confirm it because she was old and it wouldn’t change the outcome. She had painkillers until she wasn’t comfortable then she was pts. I didn’t see the point paying thousands to confirm what we already knew.

I think the question about are you insured is very telling. They assume that means no cost to you.

I think pet insurance is pushing veterinary care in a bad direction. Expensive treatment is becoming an expectation whereas vets wouldn’t have even thought to suggest such high prices for an elderly cat 20 years ago.

cats are not humans. They have no concept of future. Go by her symptoms and her life quality not her diagnosis (or lack off in this case).

I think I'd do the same.

My friend put his dog through all sorts of ops and procedures for various aliments and honestly the dog seemed miserable. He had to be euthanized in the end. He had spent over £20k in a year (he had the money but still, that's insane).

Another friend had a much loved cat who had cancer and he decided not to put her through chemotherapy as the time they would have left wasn't worth her going through it. I agreed with him and I think he did the right thing.

It's the same reason why I hate watching The Super Vet. The animals seem to go through so much and it's quite distressing to watch. This article is interesting too:

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/jan/28/too-many-pets-kept-alive-when-its-not-the-kindest-option-say-vets

Flea treatments can occasionally cause fits in cats. I'd avoid giving her any more flea treatments for now and just wait and see. Once the medication is out of her system she could well be right as rain.
And I agree with the whole insured = throw treatment at them idea. It's all about money these days for many vets and not about the pets.

One of my cats has skin reactions sometimes to flea treatments (he had lots of fleas when he first came to me - maybe there's a link?). I only do them every 6 to 8 weeks now (though I've not got a dog and the cats don't go out much)

My elderly cat started having fits, it turned out to be because she had fleas. I'd try your usual flea treatment from the vet and see if that clears it up.

Thank you everyone, I didn't take her. If you hadn't made me feel better about it I would definitely have been guilt tripped into it.
I'm sure they play on how much we love our pets. I can't think of anything else you would be expected to pay £4k for after a few minutes.

Thank you @myotherhalfisatriffid and @maximist I had already given her the treatment but I will monitor it now. Having thought about what you said, I think it's highly likely down to either front line not working, or the front line itself. She was a totally healthy cat before this flea episode.

@Julianne65 I agree, sometimes we keep pets going beyond what is fair on them because we love them. But actually not letting them suffer is the best thing you can do for them. Especially cats who are so proud.

@BasiliskStare Thank you 😊I hope your dog is doing OK.

Just wanted to thank you all again, you saved me a lot of money and a huge amount of stress on her! So relieved I cancelled it, after the flea stuff that actually works kicked in she's made a full recovery and I have my old cat back ❤️ whether it was a reaction to the the frontline or the fleas I don't know, but definitely one of them!