146 DISEASES OF CATTLE, SHEEP, GOATS, ETC. 



moderately on the anterior part of the bladder, which can be felt as 

 an elastic fluctuating bag of an oval shape just beneath. 



All other measures failing, the liquid must be drawn off through 

 a tube (catheter). This is, however, exceedingly difficult, alike in 

 male and female, and we can not expect an amateur to succeed in ac- 

 complishing it. In the cow the opening into the bladder is found in 

 the median line of the floor of the generative entrance, about 4 inches 

 in front of the external opening, but it is flanked on either side by a 

 blind pouch, into which the catheter will pass, in ninety-nine cases 

 out of a hundred, in the hands of any ibut the most skilled operator. 

 In the bull or steer the penis, when retracted into its sheath, is bent 

 upon itself like the letter 43, just above the scrotum and testicles, and 

 unless this bend is effaced by extending the organ forward out of its 

 sheath it is quite impossible to pass a catheter beyond this point. 

 When, however, the animal can be tempted by the presentation of a 

 female to protrude the penis so that it can be seized and extended, or 

 when it can be manipulated forward out of the sheath, it becomes 

 possible to pass a catheter of small caliber (one-third inch or under) 

 onward into the bladder. Youatt advised to lay open the sheath so as 

 to reach and extend the penis, and others have advocated opening the 

 urethra in the interval between the thighs or just beneath the anus, 

 but such formidable operations are beyond the stock owner. The in- 

 cision of the narrow urethra through the great thickness of muscular 

 and erectile bleeding tissue just beneath the anus is especially an 

 operation of extreme delicacy and difficulty. Drawing off the liquid 

 through the tube of an aspirator is another possible resort for the pro- 

 fessional man. The delicate needle of the aspirator is inserted in such 

 cases through the floor of the vagina and upper wall of the bladder in 

 the female, or through the floor of the rectum (last gut) and roof of 

 the bladder in the male, or finally through the lower and back part 

 of the abdominal wall, just in front of the bones of the pelvis (pubio 

 bones), and thence through the lower and anterior part of the blad- 

 der near its blind anterior end. After relief has been obtained the 

 administration of belladonna in 2-dram doses daily for several days 

 will tend to prevent a recurrence of the retention. 



When the body of the "bladder has become benumbed or para- 

 lyzed by overdistention, we may seek to restore its tone by doses of 

 one-half a dram of powdered nux vomica repeated daily, and by 

 mustard plasters applied over the loins, on the back part of the belly 

 inferiorly, or between the thighs. Small doses (2 drams) of balsam 

 of copaiba are sometimes useful in imparting tone to the partly para- 

 lyzed organ. 



INCONTINENCE OF URINE (PALSY OF THE NECK OF THE BLADDER). 



This may occur from disease or injury to the posterior part of 

 the spinal cord or from broken back, and in these cases the tail is 

 likely to be paralyzed, and it may be also the hind limbs. In this 

 case the urine dribbles away constantly, and the oiled hand in the 

 vagina or rectum will feel the half-filled and flaccid bladder beneath 

 and may easily empty it by pressure. 



