How much does a dog CT scan cost?

Does the kind of practice tell me what I will pay?

Almost nothing. Which practice does the scan moves the number more than anything else we measured, and the label on that practice does not tell you which way.

Two general practices are the clearest case. Petroglyph Animal Hospital in Albuquerque starts at $897.59. Oakdale Veterinary Group in California puts a typical scan out the door at $2,000 to $3,000. Both are general practices, and the second starts at more than twice the first.

The specialty tier does not sort itself either. An imaging center in Michigan posts $1,200, a specialty practice near Philadelphia starts at $1,800, and an owner was quoted $3,000 at an Illinois specialty hospital. A Massachusetts emergency hospital posts $1,600 for one region, inside a posted range that runs to $2,800.

So the spread inside a tier is as wide as the spread between tiers. Ten prices is a small table, and this is the firmest thing in it: calling two or three places near you is worth more than deciding in advance what kind of place to call.

What is actually inside the price?

Three of our ten prices say. Seven do not say either way, which is most of the table.

That is a gap in what practices publish rather than something missing from the scan, and the ones that do itemize show what the others might be leaving out. The Michigan imaging center’s $1,200 covers sedation or anesthesia, contrast and a radiologist’s report. The Texas imaging chain names monitoring as well.

Oakdale Veterinary Group is the one that says what sits outside the number: the anesthesia and the tests before it typically cost $500 on top.

So a $1,200 quote that includes anesthesia and a $1,200 quote that does not are not the same quote, and on seven of our ten prices the page gives you no way to tell. Ask which yours is before you compare it with anything.

Does my dog really need a CT scan, and does it have to be today?

Your vet orders one when a flat X-ray cannot separate what is happening inside your dog. The Merck Veterinary Manual says a CT scan shows far more detail, so single parts of the brain show up as separate structures. It lists tumors, abscesses, blood vessel problems, hidden fractures and pooled blood among what these scans find.

South Wilton Veterinary Group, a general practice in Connecticut, lists what vets look at this way: the spine, the nose, the inner ear, the chest, the belly organs and the brain. Each is one region, and estimates are written one at a time.

On timing, what the scan is looking for decides the urgency more than the scan does. The 2022 American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine consensus statement calls a slipped disc in the mid or lower back the most common cause of sudden weakness in a dog’s back legs. It says that diagnosis is made with a CT scan, an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging, which uses a magnet instead of X-rays) or a dye study. In a dye study, dye is injected around the spinal cord and then X-rayed.

A dog that cannot walk today is a different case from a dog with a month of nosebleeds. If your dog has already had films taken, our dog X-ray cost guide covers that part of the bill.

Why did my vet quote more, or less, than this?

After which practice does it, what moves the number is how much of your dog gets scanned. Three practices in our sources post a price for a second region: a Texas imaging chain, the Michigan center and a California general practice. A second region adds 17 to 44 percent, and none of the three doubles the bill.

Contrast is the next line, a dye that makes some problems stand out. Sage Veterinary Imaging posts both prices: $1,530 for a standard scan and $1,895 with contrast, $365 more. Your dog’s size, though, does not show up in any price we found.

The lowest figure in our sources is not a practice at all. A mobile imaging service in Jacksonville posts a CT scan from $550, on a scanner that drives to the clinic. It is one price, in one state, and a starting figure rather than a quote, which is why it does not set the low of our table. Worth asking your vet whether a mobile service covers your area; it is not evidence that a cheaper tier exists.

CareCredit’s survey of the 50 states and the District of Columbia puts the average dog CT scan at $1,615. Ours sits within about 5 percent of that. Their figure does not say what it covers, so the two are close without being like for like.

What should the estimate include?

Because seven of our ten prices do not say what is inside the number, this is mostly a list of questions rather than a list of line items. The ones marked often missing are where a low first quote grows.

• Sedation or general anesthesia, and the monitoring with it. Often missing from a first quote: only three of our ten prices state that anesthesia is included, so ask whether yours is.
• The scan itself, and how many regions it covers. A second region adds 17 to 44 percent at the three practices that post one.
• Contrast, when the scan needs it. Sage Veterinary Imaging charges $365 for it, and the Michigan center includes it.
• Bloodwork before the anesthesia. Often missing: Oakdale Veterinary Group says the anesthesia and these tests typically cost $500 on top of the imaging.
• The reading, and who does it. United Vision Pet Partners says a radiologist, a vet who specializes in reading images, interprets its scan, which starts at $1,800.
• The exam or consult fee. Often missing: $75.34 at the Albuquerque general practice, $200 near Philadelphia, and $220 for the emergency exam in Massachusetts. Our emergency vet visit cost guide covers that emergency exam fee.
• Anything taken during the same anesthesia. Often missing: a biopsy or a scope is billed on its own, and rarely small.

If two estimates are a thousand dollars apart, look at the anesthesia, the regions and the consult fee first. If an ultrasound is on the estimate too, our dog ultrasound cost guide covers what that one adds.

Is a CT scan enough, or does my dog need an MRI?

Sage Veterinary Imaging is the one practice in our sources posting a price for both scans: $1,530 for a standard CT scan and $3,445 for an MRI. Our dog MRI cost guide puts the middle of MRI prices at $3,700.

The difference is not only money. The Merck Veterinary Manual says a CT scan has largely replaced dye studies of the spinal cord, but that for the spinal cord it is still not the equal of an MRI. The 2022 American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine consensus statement puts a number on that: an MRI finds a slipped disc in more than 98.5 percent of dogs, and does better than a CT scan when the signs came on suddenly.

What a CT scan gives you is speed. The Merck Veterinary Manual says the scan itself takes less time than positioning your dog on the table, and that the time under anesthesia is short. South Wilton Veterinary Group says heavy sedation is sometimes enough.