My vet lacks MRI. Can they still diagnose my cat's brain tumor?

An MRI is the best way to see the brain to find out if there is an abnormality in structure or tumors that could be causing the seizure. If you are unable to pursue the MRI discuss this with your vet. Medication to treat/prevent seizures may be an option but will not cure the disease will only alleviate seizure symptoms. Good luck.

Sorry to hear about Babygirl. Unfortunately, without advanced diagnostic imaging it will not be possible to tell you with certainly the cause of her seizure activity. An MRI would be the only way to accomplish this positively. Based on her age and no previous history of seizure activity, a brain tumor or tumor elsewhere in the central nervous system would be the most likely diagnosis. Much lower down on my list would be some sort of infectious or inflammatory process. Even lower would be extremely late onset epilepsy. Based on what you are telling me, it sounds like humane euthanasia is probably the best decision you can make for her. I know it's hard but I hope it gives you some solace knowing that you are bringing her to peace.

Your veterinarian is correct, the x-ray will likely not show a brain tumor. Dense materials, such as bone and metal, show up as white on an x-ray, while tissue is shows up in varying shades of gray. It would very hard to see a brain tumor on x-ray. An MRI or CT scan will show a brain tumor. MRIs can "see" through the bones of the skull to the tissue underneath, while a CT scan creates detailed images of the soft tissue of the body. I would listen to your veterinarian's recommendation, as they would be the expert on all aspects of veterinary medicine given they attended many years of vet school.

Hi, it could be a number of different things. Does her head move from side to side when she is moving ? Or does it occur also when she is still ? In order to be able to pin down a list of differential diagnosis, a full neurological exam should be performed. Quite often, further advanced imaging is necessary such an MRI or CT scan. In absence of other neurological signs it could be that the cause of this condition is to be found in the cerebellum. It could be a tumour but it could also be something else. Hope you can have further work up done, it your vet has not come across this before, then perhaps seeing someone who is specialised in neurological conditions is the bast way forward.

Surgery is the preferred method for treating meningiomas, and is usually successful if the tumor is removed completely. Meningiomas in cats are firm, well-circumscribed masses that do not usually invade the neural parenchyma, and are easily delineated from normal brain tissue. The overall prognosis depends on the extent of the tumor, but a study found that surgical removal yielded survival rates of 71% at six months. The MRI is the next step, so I would have that done. That will help give you a better idea of his prognosis. I hope this helps.

There are a number of diseases that could cause seizures and slight neurologic deficits and respond somewhat to prednisolone including infectious diseases like toxoplasmosis or fungal cryptococcus, FIP or feline leukemia virus, or parasitic migrations. Unfortunately an MRI and potentially sampling cerebrospinal fluid would be the only way to know for certain what is causing the seizures. Usualky these other diseases would progress more rapidly than a brain tumor and would cause an increase in the frequency of seizures or more severe neurologic signs.

Hi, thanks for using Boop by Petco! Poor Andy! Be sure that your Vet checked Andy's blood pressure as hypertension is a common reason for vision loss in cats. Then I would seek a neurology consult at a Veterinary School or Specialty hospital. They will do a complete neurological exam and may also have you see a Veterinary ophthalmologist. Once they localize Andy's lesion they will then likely recommend a CT or MRI. Once they confirm a brain tumor they can discuss the prognosis if it can be removed. I hope this helps and I wish Andy the best!

Hi, I am sorry to hear that Lola is going through all this at the moment. I think your vet is right in suspecting a brain tumour affecting her cerebellum (part of the brain). I think I would consider euthanasia as it must be distressing for her to go through these episodes of circling and falling down. We can’t say if for example she is suffering with headaches as well, we wouldn’t be able to tell but surely to circle continuosly must be distressing. Hope this helps.

In my opinion, it is a long shot to diagnose brain tumor based on one episode like that. First of all, it should be established if the episode was a seizure or not (it could have been a muscle spasm or a bout of neck pain, maybe ?). I assume that neurological examination at the time of your visit at your vet was all ok. If Sookie has another similar episode, ideally you should record a video of that and play it back to your vet. It will help to establish if this is a seizure or not. Even if the episode was an epileptic seizure it is not necessary because of brain tumor. Problems like blood clot in the brain vessel, bleeding from a brain vessel, inflammation of the brain, infection or even diseases distant from the brain (for example diabetes, heart diseases) can result in seizure-like episodes. So, the best approach for confirmed seizure is to run blood test first to rule out diabetes, drop in blood glucose level, liver/kidney function etc. If the results are negative AND your dog is

In an older animal who develops seizures, previously having had none, it is likely that something such as a brain tumour or organ failure is to blame as opposed to epilepsy. In this case if they are getting worse and she is showing neurological signs between seizures I would be suspicious of a tumour. Bloods could check for any issues with other organs. In the case of a brain tumour medication will likely be aimed towards making her more comfortable. Bearing in mind if signs are progressing quickly the prognosis will be poor. I would recommend taking her for an examination and bloods to help determine how severe the condition and decide on appropriate action.