AmyMay
Situation normal
Out of interest, does anyone have an idea of what an MRI would cost on a collie sized dog? Specially of the spine.
MRI
- Thread starter AmyMay
- Start date
South Dakota
Member
Anywhere between £1500-£2200 (if contrast used will be the higher amount, which is possible as spine being done). That’s at a referral practice in Surrey.
bonny
Well-Known Member
For my dog and his seizures I was told £2000 ! Also told it was very unlikely to show anything so I thought I wouldn’t go down that road.
AmyMay
Situation normal
You’ve both confirmed the sort of price I thought it would be. Cheers
Shady
Well-Known Member
Dear god that is unreal. I paid 480 euro's over here in France at a specialist clinic. It also included a follow up consultation with a spinal specialist and trauma vet known throughout Europe. How did things get so crazy
bonny
Well-Known Member
Insurance I guess
Stiff Knees
Well-Known Member
C Spine plus elbows £2250 Yorkshire. Labrador ??
Parrotperson
Well-Known Member
well thats interesting isn't it. I've just has an MRI, for reasons I won't bore you with I enquire about going privately. £273 for one body part. so Head on its own, or spine etc. Got it on the NHS in the end but does make me wonder why the price for a dog is sooooooo much more! Its exactly the same machine after all.......
Stiff Knees
Well-Known Member
I dont think the machine is identical. The one Jake was scanned by had a little dog paw print sticker on it. ?
ester
Not slacking multitasking
Depends on the body part, looking at about 1k for a pelvis.
Parrotperson
Well-Known Member
???? That account for the extra £1500 price then!
Stiff Knees
Well-Known Member
Yup. ? Paw print stickers are very expensive.
Cinnamontoast
Fais pas chier!
Jake’s MRI was nearly £2K 10 years ago at the RVC.
rara007
Well-Known Member
I’d suspect it’s more to do with the general anaesthetic required and the comparative use levels (a human one presumably has more foot fall than a vet one...?) than the stickers 
https://www.nimblefins.co.uk/average-cost-mri-dog
https://www.nimblefins.co.uk/average-cost-mri-dog
GSD Woman
Well-Known Member
In the USA I've worked two places that did MRIs. One place was around $5000. The other was $2500-4000 depending on the size of the dog and if contrast was needed.
littlen
Well-Known Member
Probably because we can’t say to animals sit there exactly still in the position I’ve placed you in and now hold your breath at the right moment please ?
CT and MRI is expensive because it requires a full general anaesthetic, an anaesthetist plus someone specially trained in operating the machine (which requires a lot of training) and then usually a separate company to interpret the results.
I would expect 1.5-2k on average.
Parrotperson
Well-Known Member
Anaesthetic is about £200. even if it was £400 thats still a lot of money for the rest of it. yes you have to have attained person but so do the NHS/private doctors. the only difference is that you have to anaesthetise. so at the most it should be £700 for a part of the body say to say £1400 for whole body.
I work for an equine vet. the hospital there bought in a second hand machine from the NHS so at a huge discount. still think its taking the piss to charge that much. ?
I work for an equine vet. the hospital there bought in a second hand machine from the NHS so at a huge discount. still think its taking the piss to charge that much. ?
bonny
Well-Known Member
Horses and dogs are often insured, that’s why it costs so much
GSD Woman
Well-Known Member
Here pet insurance is less popular. With our sucky health care here my MRI was close to 5000 before insurance.
rara007
Well-Known Member
How much use does that MRI get? Do they put legs through it or just heads? I presume we’re still talking hundreds of thousands worth of machine, tricky GA and bespoke manoeuvring equipment to take the weight of a horse through the machine that’s obviously got no metal in, mri friendly GA machine and ventilator horse sized, specialist room. For what I would guess is really very limited use... Id have a standing lower limb MRI on my horse but once we’re getting into GA territory I’d think very hard. Most ‘head’ things I wouldn’t want to be recovering! You’d CT for dental issues.Anaesthetic is about £200. even if it was £400 thats still a lot of money for the rest of it. yes you have to have attained person but so do the NHS/private doctors. the only difference is that you have to anaesthetise. so at the most it should be £700 for a part of the body say to say £1400 for whole body.
I work for an equine vet. the hospital there bought in a second hand machine from the NHS so at a huge discount. still think its taking the piss to charge that much. ?
Parrotperson
Well-Known Member
they get a lot of use from it and I would imagine the insurance companies get a lot of claims! As Bonny quite rightly says its all about insurance and how much people will pay for their animals.
rara007
Well-Known Member
Are you in the states? I didn’t think we had any ‘normal’ MRIs at equine only hospitals here? I didn’t think there was much horse insurance there? I seriously doubt it’s ‘making’ money yet, a human machine will be booked 7 days a week with a scan taking around an hour each, theyll only be able to put a couple of horses through in that time, even if fully booked.
Not that that’s relevant to dogs where they’re much easier (comparatively) to GA, recover and manoeuvre, plus neurological diagnosis is less of a ‘write off’.
Not that that’s relevant to dogs where they’re much easier (comparatively) to GA, recover and manoeuvre, plus neurological diagnosis is less of a ‘write off’.
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Parrotperson
Well-Known Member
no, uk. its much cheaper to use a second hand NHS machine than buy new. it only does below the knee but thats where an awful lot of lameness is.. Horses are sedated not anaesthetised.
as to NHS MRI scanner they are most certainly not used 7 days a week (unless obviously in A&E). I've recently found out this to may cost as I've broken my proximal tibia plateau as well as rupturing my anterior cruciate ligament (ouch!). Obviously not an emergency so had to wait nearly a month for a scan. The machines are utilised by private practice doctors as well (I asked about paying for one quickly and was told I could have it at the same hospital in the same machine for £273).
as to NHS MRI scanner they are most certainly not used 7 days a week (unless obviously in A&E). I've recently found out this to may cost as I've broken my proximal tibia plateau as well as rupturing my anterior cruciate ligament (ouch!). Obviously not an emergency so had to wait nearly a month for a scan. The machines are utilised by private practice doctors as well (I asked about paying for one quickly and was told I could have it at the same hospital in the same machine for £273).
ester
Not slacking multitasking
Addenbrookes definitely use theirs 6 days a week at least, they scan on saturdays. A couple in trailers outside which always seems strange.
rara007
Well-Known Member
How do they get the horse through sideways sedated?! Or is it a standard HallmarQ standing 0.28T machine you have? What did the NHS use them for- they were developed for horses in 2002.
Our area nhs is 7 days a week MRI scanning, even for ‘routine’ things. Still going to be a lot more than sedated horses where even standing it’s 3hours ish per horse let alone one that’s just found itself on its side.
How much do you think would be ‘fair’ for them to be charging? I think you’re the only non uni hospital to have a high field machine if it is ex NHS but I’m surprised they don’t GA. If it’s an old one you had it’d have been about 1.5million new, or 3 million if a 3T. I doubt it’d have been less than a few hundred thousand!?
Our area nhs is 7 days a week MRI scanning, even for ‘routine’ things. Still going to be a lot more than sedated horses where even standing it’s 3hours ish per horse let alone one that’s just found itself on its side.
How much do you think would be ‘fair’ for them to be charging? I think you’re the only non uni hospital to have a high field machine if it is ex NHS but I’m surprised they don’t GA. If it’s an old one you had it’d have been about 1.5million new, or 3 million if a 3T. I doubt it’d have been less than a few hundred thousand!?
Murphy88
Well-Known Member
Anaesthetic is about £200. even if it was £400 thats still a lot of money for the rest of it. yes you have to have attained person but so do the NHS/private doctors. the only difference is that you have to anaesthetise. so at the most it should be £700 for a part of the body say to say £1400 for whole body.
I work for an equine vet. the hospital there bought in a second hand machine from the NHS so at a huge discount. still think its taking the piss to charge that much. ?
I think you are mistaken on your MRI... as Rara says, the only standing equine MRIs are the Hallmarq machines. Human technology is designed for evaluation in lateral, as far as I'm aware the machine wouldn't tolerate the change of imaging plane.
Also quick suggestion, if this is how you feel about vets, you might want to find a different job. The vast majority of us not only aren't in it for the money, but are actually paid fairly poorly for the degree of training we have and the amount of work we do. ?