calcium stone in uretha of male rabbit - surgery required

Question
I just had my 2 year old male lionhead to the vet.  He has a calcium deposit in his uretha right by his penis.  
Vet said surgery is the only way to go and because of where the stone is, it can't be flushed back into the bladder.  Only option is to go through penis to get stone out.  This sounds very painful to me.  I was wondering if you have any idea how succesful this surgery is and how stressful it will be on the rabbit.  The vet said a lot of bleeding will occur after the surgery and I'm unsure if I want to put my rabbit through this.  Any advice you can give, I would greatly appreciate.

Answer
Dear Kathy,

If the only choices here are

1.  Leave the painful stone and do nothing
2.  Surgically remove the stone
3.  Euthanasia

I would certainly choose #2.  ESPECIALLY if you are contemplating #3.  There are worse ways to die than under anesthesia, and if the surgery will save his life, then a week or so of pain and recovery are certainly worth it, if you ask me.

Is the stone so firmly lodged that the vet thinks it can't be flushed out of the penis with lubrication and liquid flushing?  That might be something to ask about, though this, too, would require general anesthesia.

If you are not convinced of the diagnosis (was this done with radiographs?), then you could find another vet for a second opinion:

www.rabbit.org/vets

But if this is really a confirmed diagnosis, then treatment should be done sooner, not later.  This has got to HURT, and I certainly wouldn't want a stone stuck in MY urethra.  :(

I hope this helps.

Dana