On Friday November 19th, we noticed our one year old cat Sam laying on his side and panting in severe pain. We decided that he needed to go to the vet as soon as possible so we called any local clinic we could think of, but unfortunately no one nearby could see him right away. My sister Sarah recommended we try Upstate Veterinary Clinic in Latham and as I was at work, Maria drove him there right away. After they examined him there they determined that he had severe blockage in his urethra; an issue common with male cats but worrisome nonetheless. They stated that had the situation gone on much longer, he could've gone into kidney failure and died. Soon after his arrival, surgeons attempted to insert a catheter to try and empty his bladder, however, they discovered that the block was much worse due to large bladder stones and complications arose. It was at this point that they left us with essentially two options: either perform life-saving surgery on him, with an estimated cost of $8,000-$10,000, or euthanize him. Maria and I didn't have it in our heart to put Sam to sleep and so we opted for the surgical route. Although the surgery was inevitably successful and they were able to feed a catheter through his bladder, as well as clean out the blockage, we knew that it wasn't quite over. Sam had to spend a whole week in the emergency vet hospital being monitored and cared for and at one point managed to remove his catheter, which required further sedation and reinsertion. We were well aware that everything up to this point would leave us with a very large vet bill, but we were just relieved that he was alive and recovering. So this is where we ask you-our family and friends-to help in anyway you can. We love our cat Sam and are so happy that he has survived this endeavor. We don't know where we would be without him and we hope that with your help, we can chip away at this massive bill. Thank you for caring! J.P. and Maria