DISEASES OF CATTLE 143 



and ears, loss of appetite, suspended rumination, and indications of 

 extreme sensitiveness in the loins. The patient stands with back 

 arched and hind legs extended backward and outward, and passes 

 water frequently, in driblets, of a high color and specific gravity, con- 

 taining albumen and microscopic casts. When made to move, the 

 patient does so with hesitation and groaning, especially if turned in a 

 narrow circle ; and when pinched on the flank, just beneath the lat- 

 eral bony processes of the loins, especially on that side on which the 

 disease predominates, it flinches and groans. If the examination is 

 made with the oiled hand introduced through the last gut (rectum), 

 the pressure upward on the kidneys gives rise to great pain and ef- 

 forts to escape by moving away and by active contractions of the 

 rectum for the expulsion of the hand. .Sometimes there is a distinct 

 swelling over the loins or quarter on one or both sides. In uncas- 

 trated males the testicle on the affected side is drawn up, or is alter- 

 nately raised and dropped. In all there is a liability to tremors of 

 the thigh on the side affected. 



In some severe cases colicky pains are as violent as in the worst 

 forms of indigestion and spasms of the "bowels. The animal fre- 

 quently shifts from one hind foot to the other, stamps, kicks at the 

 belly, looks anxiously at its flank at frequent intervals, moans plain- 

 tively, lies down and quickly gets up again, grinds its teeth, twists 

 its tail, and keeps the back habitually arched and rigid and the hind 

 feet advanced under the belly. The bowels may be costive and the 

 feces glistening with a coat of mucus, or they may be loose and irri- 

 table, and the paunch or even the bowels may become distended with 

 gas (bloating) as the result of indigestion and fermentation. In 

 some animals, male and female alike, the rigid arched condition of 

 the back will give way to such undulating movements as are some- 

 times seen in the act of coition. 



The disease does not always appear in its full severity ; but for a 

 day, or even two, there may be merely loss of appetite, impaired 

 rumination, a disposition to remain lying down ; yet when the pa- 

 tient is raised, it manifests suffering by anxiously looking at the 

 flanks, shifting or stamping of the hind feet, shaking of the tail, and 

 attempts to urinate, which are either fruitless or lead to the discharge 

 of a small quantity of high-colored or perhaps bloody urine. 



In chronic cases swelling of the legs or along the lower surface 

 of chest or abdomen, or within these respective cavities, is a common 

 symptom. So, also, stupor or coma, or even convulsions, may super- 

 vene from the poisonous action of urea and other waste or morbid 

 products retained in the blood. 



Treatment. In the treatment of acute nephritis the first con- 

 sideration is the removal of the cause. Acrid or diuretic plants in 

 the food must be removed, and what of this kind is present in the 

 stomach or bowels may be cleared away by a moderate dose of castor 

 or olive oil ; extensive surfaces of inflammation that have been blis- 

 tered by Spanish flies must be washed clean with soapsuds ; sprains 

 of the back or loins must be treated by soothing fomentations or poul- 

 tices, or by a fresh sheepskin with its fleshy side applied on the loins, 



