Snowball has been getting UTIs lately and we thought this was just another one. I thought he was acting funny and seemed to be in more pain so off to the vet we went today. He was blocked and they were not able to get the catheter in without damaging his urethra.
Phone calls and another trip to the vet. We took the still sedated Snowball in our car to the emergency vet where he will have 24 hour monitoring. They will try to do the catheter again but it looks like kidney stones lodged in his urethra. The vets suggest doing the perineal urethrostomy - they shorten and widen the urethra so that this won't happen again. Obviously they will be able to remove the obstruction while doing this. Usually this is only done if they have reoccurring UTIs but in his case, he will not live if they cannot get the catheter in.
Being a weekend we don't have a choice of vets here - we have to go to who is available and open. Please keep Snowblall in your prayers that he comes thru this. He is only 9 and certainly deserves many more years of love.
Thanks to Ann of Zoolatry for his graphic and for emailing everyone! You guys are so supportive! We will keep ya'll posted as we get more info. What a long day.