618 



TREATMENT OF URINARY CALCULI. 



Vesical calculi take longer to produce obstruction in staling; 

 the urine is passed more frequently, but in small quantities, often 

 constantly in drops. When the animal has been driven fast, the 

 fluid may be blood-stained on account of the stone injuring the 

 mucous membrane. Hertwig saw sexual appetite excited in a mare 

 by vesical calculus. Exploration per rectum generally reveals the 

 stone as a firm, hard substance ; in mares it can be directly felt by 

 passing the ringer through the urethra. Gravel is rarer in the horse, 

 though cases are on record where large quantities have been removed 

 by operation. 



Treatment. Internal medication is useless for dissolving the 

 stone, and surgical removal alone can cure. Though it is certainly 



Fig. 427. — Urethral obstruction removed by 

 Mr. Mellis. Probably consisted of cystin. 





Fig. 42(3. — Calculus passed spon- 

 taneously. Natural size. (Mr. 

 McFarlane's case.) 



easier to remove a stone from the urethra than from the bladder, 

 neither operation is easy nor unattended with danger, especially 

 in carnivora ; herbivora bear operation much better. 



Cutting for stone Mas first practised in man. In veterinary surgery 

 it is said to have been introduced by Lafosse. who made the fust attempt 

 on a horse. Ercolani contends that even in the 14th century similar attempts 

 had been made ; but Bouley was probably the first successfully to employ 

 the operation in the horse as a means of treatment. 



Several methods formerly employed are now obsolete, such as cystotomia 

 rectalis, in which the urinary bladder was incised through the lower wall 

 of the rectum, and the stone removed through the rectum. Severe cystitis 

 often resulted, and caused this method to be given up both in men and 

 animals. 



The bladder may also be reached through the lower portion of the 

 abdominal wall, close to the pubis, a method which is known as cystotomia 

 suprapubica, and is practised in human and canine surgery. In horses, 

 as there is considerable danger of peritonitis, while the weight of the 

 abdominal contents favours prolapse of the bowel, it is necessary to resort 

 to a third method, namely, incision of the perineum (Cystotomia perinealis) ; 

 or the urethra may be opened (urethrotomy) at one of various points in 

 its course. 



