204 HORSE, SWINE AND POULTRY DISEASES 



opened and closed, as after urination. The animal winces when 

 the abdomen is pressed in the region of the sheath or udder, and the 

 bladder is found to be sensitive and tender when pressed with the 

 oiled hand introduced through the rectum or vagina. In the mare 

 the thickening of the walls of the bladder may be felt by introducing 

 one finger through the urethra. The discharged urine, which may 

 be turbid or even oily, contains an excess of mucus, with flat shreds 

 of membrane, with scaly epithelial cells, and pus corpuscles, each 

 showing two or more nuclei when treated with acetic acid, but there 

 are no miscroscopic tubular casts, as in nephritis. If due to stone in 

 the bladder, that will be found on examination through rectum or 

 vagina. 



Treatment. This implies, first, the removal of the cause, whether 

 poisons in food or as medicine, the removal of Spanish flies or other 

 blistering agents from the skin, or the extraction of stone or gravel. 

 If the urine has been retained and decomposed it must be completely 

 evacuated through a clean catheter, and the bladder thoroughly 

 washed out with a solution of 1 dram of borax in a quart of water. 

 This must be repeated twice daily until the urine no longer decom- 

 poses, because so long^ as ammonia is developed in the bladder the 

 protecting layer of epithelial cells will be dissolved and the surface 

 kept raw and irritable. The diet must be light (bran mashes, roots, 

 fresh grass), and the drink impregnated with linseed tea, or solution 

 of slippery elm or marsh mallow. The same agents may be used to 

 inject into the rectum, or they may even be used along with borax 

 and opium to inject into bladder (gum arabic 1 dram, opium 1 dram, 

 tepid water 1 pint) . Fomentations over the loins are often of great 

 advantage, and these may be followed or alternated with the appli- 

 cation of mustard, as in paralysis ; or the mustard may be applied on 

 the back part of the abdomen below or between the thighs from the 

 anus downward. Finally, when the acute symptoms have subsided, 

 a daily dose of buchu 1 dram and nux vomica one-half dram will 

 serve to restore lost tone. 



IRRITABLE BLADDER. 



Some horses, and especially mares, show an irritability of the 

 bladder and nerve centers presiding over it by frequent urination in 

 small quantities, though the urine is not manifestly changed in char- 

 acter and no more than the natural amount is passed in the twenty- 

 four hours. The disorder appears to have its source quite as fre- 

 quently in the generative or nervous system as in the urinary. A 

 troublesome and dangerous form is seen in mares, which dash off and 

 refuse all control by the rein if driven with a full bladder, but usually 

 prove docile if the bladder has been emptied before hitching. In 

 other cases the excitement connected with getting the tail over the 

 reins is a powerful determining cause. The condition is marked in 

 many mares during the period of heat. 



An oleaginous laxative (castor oil 1 pint) will serve to remove 

 any cause of irritation in the digestive organs, and a careful dieting 

 will avoid continued irritation by acrid vegetable agents. The blad- 

 der should be examined to see that there is no stone or other cause of 



