144 DISEASES OP THE HORSE. 



other organs and during fevers. This may last only during the exist- 

 ence of its cause, or may persist and become aggravated. Heart dis- 

 ease, throwing the blood pressure back on the veins and kidneys, 

 is another cause. Disease of the ureter or bladder, preventing the 

 escape of urine from the kidney and causing increased fullness and 

 tension in its pelvis and tubes, will determine inflammation. Decom- 

 position of the detained urine in such cases and the production of 

 ammonia and other irritants must also be named. In elimination of 

 bacteria through the kidney, the latter is liable to infection with con- 

 sequent inflammation. The advance of bacteria upward from the 

 bladder to the kidneys is another cause. The consumption in hay or 

 other fodder of acrid or irritant plants, including fungi, the absorp- 

 tion of cantharidine from a surface blistered by Spanish flies, the 

 reckless administration of diuretics, the presence of stones in the 

 kidney, exposure of the surface to cold and wet, and the infliction of 

 blows or sprains on the loins, may contribute to its production. Liver 

 disorders which throw on the kidneys the work of excreting irritant 

 products, diseases of the lungs and heart from which clots are car- 

 ried, to be arrested in the small blood vessels of the kidney, and 

 injuries and paralysis of the spinal cord, are additional causes. 



Symptoms. — The symptoms are more or less fever, manifest stiff- 

 ness of the back and straddling gait with the hind limbs, difficulty in 

 lying down and rising, or in walking in a circle, the animal sometimes 

 groaning under the effort, arching of the loins and tucking up of the 

 flank, looking back at the abdomen as if from colicky pain, and ten- 

 derness of the loins to pinching, especially just beneath the bony 

 processes 6 inches to one side of the median line. Urine is passed 

 frequently, a small quantity at a time, of a high color, and sometimes 

 mixed with blood or even pus. Under the microscope it shows the 

 microscopic casts referred to under general symptoms. If treated by 

 acetic acid, boiling and subsequent addition of strong nitric acid, the 

 resulting and persistent precipitate indicates the amount of albumen. 

 The legs tend to swell from the foot up, also the dependent parts 

 beneath the belly and chest, and effusions of liquid may occur within 

 the chest or abdomen. In the male the alternate drawing up and 

 relaxation of the testicles in the scrotum are suggestive, and in small 

 horses the oiled hand introduced into the rectum may reach the 

 kidney and ascertain its sensitiveness. 



Treatment demands, first, the removal of any recognized cause. 

 Then, if the suffering and fever are high, 2 to 4 quarts of blood may 

 be abstract-ed from the jugular vein; in weak subjects or unless in 

 high fever this should be omitted. Next relieve the kidneys so far 

 as possible by throwing their work on the bowels and skin. A pint 

 of castor oil is less likely than either aloes or salts to act on the kid- 

 neys. To affect the skin a warm stall and heavy clothing may be 



