148 DISEASES OF CATTLE, SHEEP, GOATS, ETC. 



pelvis we find minute flattened or more or less rounded yellowish 

 white concretions. Even the large concretions may prove appar- 

 ently harmless. I have a calculus several ounces in weight which 

 filled the entire pelvis of the kidney, which was found by accident 

 in a fat carcass while being dressed. In work oxen, however, such 

 concretions may give rise to symptoms of kidney disease, such as 

 stiffness of the loins, shown especially in the acts of rising or turn- 

 ing, weakness of the hind parts when set to pull a heavy load, an 

 irritability of the kidneys, shown by the frequent passage of urine 

 in small quantity, tenderness of the loins, shown when they are 

 pinched or lightly struck, and it may be the passage of blood or 

 minute gritty masses with the urine. If the attack is severe, what 

 is called renal colic (kidney colic) may be shown by frequent un- 

 easy shifting of the hind limbs, shaking or twisting of the tail, 

 looking round at the flanks, and lying down and rising again at 

 short intervals without apparent cause. The frequent passage of 

 urine, the bloody or gritty masses contained in it, and perhaps the 

 hard, stony cylinders around the tufts of hair of the sheath, show that 

 the source of the suffering is the urinary organs. In bad cases active 

 inflammation of the kidneys may set in. (See Nephritis.) 



URETERAL CALCULI. 



These are small stones which have passed from the pelvis of the 

 kidney into the canal (ureter) leading from the kidney to the blad- 

 der, but, being too large to pass on easily, have blocked that canal and 

 forced the urine back upon the kidney. The result is the production 

 of symptoms more violent than in renal calculi, though not varying, 

 save in intensity, from those of renal colic. In case of complete and 

 unrelieved obstruction, the secretion of the kidney on that side is 

 entirely abolished, and it becomes the seat of passive congestion, and 

 it may even be absorbed in greater part or as a whole, leaving only a 

 fibrous sac containing fluid with a urinous odor. In small cattle, in 

 which the oiled hand introduced into the last gut may reach the 

 affected part, the distended ureter may be felt as a tense, elastic cord, 

 extending forward from the point of obstruction on the lateral wall 

 of the pelvis and beneath the loins toward the kidney. If relief is 

 obtained by the onward passage of the stone a free flow of urine usu- 

 ally follows, in the midst of wnich may often be found gritty masses. 

 If the outlets from both kidneys are similarly blocked, the animal 

 becomes poisoned by the retention in the blood of the elements of the 

 urine, and by their reabsorption after secretion. 



Treatment of Renal and Ureteral Calculi. Treatment is not 

 very successful, as only the smallest calculi can pass through the 

 ureter and enter the bladder, and even if they should do so they are 

 liable to a progressive increase there, so that later they may cause 

 the symptoms of stone in the bladder. Fortunately, ordinary 

 dairy, growing, or fattening cattle rarely show evident symptoms 

 of illness, and though they should do so they can usually be fat- 

 tened and slaughtered before the health is seriously impaired. In 

 work oxen the case is different, and acute symptoms may develop, 

 but even then the animal may often be fitted for the butcher. When 



