9 Dec, 1907.] Diseases of Farm Aiiiinals. 767 



resorted to except bv an expert. A catheter is passed into the bladder 

 through the urethra. The canal of the urethra is then opened by cutting 

 down on to the catheter just below the anus and in front of where it winds 

 forward from the ischial arch. The opening is made sufficiently large to 

 admit of the exit of the calculus, which should be manipulated with the 

 hand in the rectum. Special lithotomy forceps may be required to grasp 

 and remove a calculus but the sandy deposit may be removed with a 

 specially shaped spoon. The risk of the operation lies in the difficulty 

 cf getting the wound to heal, and a fistulous opening through which the 

 uiine passes will often remain. 



Enlargement of the Prostate Gland. 



The prostate is a small gland encircling the urethra at the neck of the 

 bladder, and in verv fat dogs — pet dogs principally^ — it frequentlv becomes 

 enlarged and the subject of fatty degeneration. In these cases there is 

 painful and frequent urination, or there may be complete retention of urine. 



Stone in the Sheath (Preputial Calculus). 



Bulls and rams are sometimes seen with the long hairs surrounding the 

 point of the sheath encrusted with a whitish calcareous deposit. This is 

 due to an excess of saline matter, generally lime phosphates, being deposited 

 from the urine as it trickles slowly from the sheath. Although the de- 

 posits cause little inconvenience in bulls it is advisable that the pasture 

 should be changed or the diet modified as their presence is an indication 

 of the liability to the fonnation of calculi internally. 



Wether sheep are frequently affected with the same condition, and in 

 them it is a much more serious affair. 



Retention of Urine. 



By retention of urine is meant the non-expulsion ot urine already formed 

 and contained in the bladder, not the scantiness of urine on account of its 

 non-secretion. It may be due to various causes, the principal of which 

 are : — 



(i) Loss of power of the bladder to contract and expel the urine. This 

 may occur from over-distension as when a horse has been driven all day 

 and has not staled. The wall of the bladder may become stretched to 

 such an extent as to lose its power of contraction. 



(2) Nervous atony, as seen in the paralysis of the bladder in milk fever 

 in cattle. 



(3) Spasm of the neck of the bladder as in cases of colic in horses. 



(4) Constriction of the urethral passage by enlargement of the prostate 

 gland as seen in pet dogs. 



(5) Stricture of the urethra, occurring as the result of an inflammation 

 or pseudo-gonorrhoea. 



(6) Blocking of the urethra by a calculus (this is a fairly common occur- 

 rence in sheep) or by pellets of wax at the outer opening. 



(7) Various surgical conditions such as phymosis and paraphymosis. 



Symptoms. — The chief indications of retention of urine are: — Un- 

 easiness, lashing of the tail, shifting and paddling of the hind limbs and 

 feet, frequent posing as if to urinate, and perhaps colicky symptoms. 

 Exploration with the hand through the rectum in males and through the 

 vagina in females manifests the distended state of the bladder. In dogs 

 the distension mav be felt on manipulating the abdomen just in front of 



