626 DIAGNOSIS or URETHRAL CALCULI TN RUMINANTS. 



In oxen slight symptoms of colic should always arouse suspicion 

 of urinary calculus and lead to examination of the bladder and urethra. 

 The bladder and sometimes the upper portions of the urethra are 

 found excessively distended, and the latter may show pulsative 

 movements as the animal strains whilst a few drops of urine are 

 sometimes passed. Passing the finger along the course of the met lira 

 causes the animal pain and uneasiness at the scat of obstruction. 

 though the stones can seldom be directly felt. Retention of urine 

 for twelve to twenty-four hours may result in rupture of the bladder 

 and death after a few days. After rupture the pain diminishes, the 



Fig. 435. — Course of the urethra in the ox. (After Hering.) 

 a. Urinary bladder ; b, ureter, cut off ; c, vesiculae seminales ; d, d, pelvic portion 

 of urethra ; /, commencement of the corpus cavernosum of the penis ; 

 g, ischial curve of the urethra ; /;, first bend ; ?', second bend : le, anterior 

 extremity of the penis : I, retractor penis muscle. 



animals may even begin to feed again, but tympanites soon sets in, 

 and death takes place with symptoms of peritonitis and uraemia 

 (frequent pulse, rigors and giddiness). Cases are reported where 

 oxen have lived for some weeks after rupture of the bladder. St din 

 mentions an ox which lived six weeks, and Jacobi states having seen 

 recovery after rupture, but as a rule animals in this condition are at 

 once slaughtered, to avoid injury to the flesh, which acquires an 

 unpleasant smell from resorption of urine from the abdominal cavity. 

 Franck therefore recommends removing the urine by a trocar passed 

 through the floor of the abdomen. 



In oxen it is important to operate early, and, on account of the 

 peculiar course of the urethra, one method alone, viz., urethrotomy, 

 is available. With few exceptions the calculus is found at the first 



