348 HEALTH AND DISEASE 



Causes. — Some cases of bloody urine are caused by injuries, the result 

 of external violence ; others may be traced to the presence of calculi (stones) 

 in the kidney or the bladder, and occasionally also in the urethral canal. 

 Structural changes resulting from one or other of the various diseases 

 aflecting these organs are accountable for a small percentage of cases. 



Treatment. — When hemorrhage is the result of the presence of stone 

 in the Ithidder or urethral canal, the offending body must be removed 

 by operation. If it arises in the course of disease of the kidney, cold 

 cloths should be applied over the loins, and small doses of tannic acid, 

 with nux vomica, administered two or three times a day. The patient 

 will require to be kept perfectly quiet, and the bowels maintained in a 

 state of activity by light bran diet and two or three tablespoon fuls of 

 linseed-oil morning and evening. Enemas of cold water will also assist 

 in keeping the bleeding in check. 



Demulcent drinks, as linseed tea, should take the place of water, but 

 the quantity allowed should not be excessive. 



DISEASE OF THE KIDNEYS 



Nephritis. — Inflammation of the kidneys of the horse is much less 

 frequent than in man — a difference which no doubt finds explanation in 

 the absence in the one of those serious dietetic and alcoholic abuses which 

 are so commonly prevalent in the other. 



Causes. — Chief among these are exposure to cold and wet while 

 the body is heated and fatigued. It is often induced by the habitual 

 administration of cantharides to excite the sexual instinct in travelling 

 stallions. The abuse of diuretic agents, as turpentine, resin, nitre, and 

 oil of juniper, undoubtedly contributes to the number of cases of inflamed 

 kidneys, and it may be accepted as true that the less knowledge carters 

 and grooms possess of the horse, the more frequent will be their use of 

 drugs, and the more powerful those selected. 



Inflammation of the kidneys may also result from inflammation affecting 

 the bladder, by extension of the disease along the line of the ureters, or 

 from absorption of cantharides into the blood when applied over large sur- 

 faces of the skin for blistering purposes; and it sometimes follows certain 

 forms of blood-poisoning, during which the blood-vessels become blocked^ 

 and abscesses develop in the structure of the gland. Severe strains in 

 jumping, and violent efforts at draught, are probably sometimes provo- 

 cative of the disease. 



Symptoms. — In this affection the patient shows a frequent desire to 

 stale, but the quantity of urine expelled at any one time is very small. 



