Would you have an MRI scan or not?

[Kris35]

Hi everyone,

I have a 16 year old Burmese cat who I love like nothing I've ever loved before. Up until three months ago she was running around the garden and launching herself up the tree and then hooking herself down and running around the garden again. Then she started to have runny poos. One night she did a big cowpat poo and collapsed and couldn't walk. I took her to the vets and they gave her some painkillers. The next day she was still the same so I took her down again. This time they kept her in on a drip. All her bloods were fine, just slightly low on potassium. She came home the next day and was a bit better. Then two weeks later she did another big runny poo and collapsed again (onto her side). To cut this story down, my vet diagnosed arthritis and we both agreed to have her pts if the Metacam didn't work and she was in pain.

I didnt think the Metacam was working, I stopped giving it to her. Took her to see another vet and he gave her a steroid injection.

She was running about that night. Then she got weak again. I have spent time bringing her food to her and lifting her into her dirt tray because she was so weak.

Then I went to see a homeopathy vet who gave her two minutes laser treatment and arnica tablets. The change in her is quite dramatic. She is now running around, up and down the stairs. But she is still weak in her back legs. All her bloods are good. Her poo samples have come back negative (just awaiting the results of t foetus test but I don't think it is that).

So now Im thinking about taking her to a specialist vets for an MRI scan as Im wondering if she has nerve damage or something. What would you do here? If she has nerve damage (I dont think she has a clot as her hind legs feel warm, and anyway Im not sure I could put her through the surgery and thats even if its possible). This is going to cost me thousands of pounds - money I do not have. IF I thought the MRI scan would help, then I would pay for it, but really, what if it shows nothing? What if it does show nerve damage? I'm leaning towards giving her more laser therapy and not having an MRI scan.

I could also have her hips xrayed but not even sure that will help because if it shows a fracture - how can they fix it? She is more or less back to her normal self - its just the muscle waste in her rear end I'm worried about. I've spoken to so many vets, I really don't know what to do.

[Longblades]

What a tough decision. Either an X-ray or MRI is only a tool to help form a diagnosis so you will know what to try next. The X-ray would be cheaper. But MRI might give a more complete picture. Neither is guaranteed to find anything at all.

Since your visit to the homeopathic Vet yielded good results, if it was me I'd probably keep going back to that Vet.

Good luck, it's hard thing to have to decide. A factor for me is how much is this going to stress the cat? She will have to be sedated or even right out for the MRI (I think) but possibly not for an X-ray.

[Kris35]

Yeah. I've asked myself would I do this if it were free and I'm not sure I would. I think I need to ring the vet up and ask what the options are if she did ahve some kind of damage - and also if it would show anything up for definite. The homeopathyic vet is an hours drive away and I cannot find anyone else in my area who does laser therapy - am still looking. So many big decisions we have to make for our animals. Thanks for your reply.