DISEASES OF THE HOESE. 89 



harness. This failing, spread clean litter beneath the belly or turn the 

 patient out on the dung heap. Some seek to establish sympathetic action 

 by pouring water from one vessel into another with dribbling noise. 

 Others soothe and distract the attention by slow whistling. Friction 

 of the abdomen with wisps of straw ma}^ succeed, or it may be rubbed 

 with ammonia and oil. These failing, an injection of 2 ounces of 

 laudanum or of an infusion of 1 ounce of tobacco in water may be 

 tried. In the mare the neck of the bladder is easily dilated by insert- 

 ing two oiled fingers and slightly parting them. In the horse the oiled 

 hand introduced into the rectum ma}^ press from before backward on 

 the anterior or blind end of the bladder. Finally, a well-oiled gum- 

 elastic catheter ma}^ be entered into the urethra through the papilla 

 at the end of the penis and pushed on carefull}^ until it has entered 

 the bladder. To effect this the penis must first be withdrawn from 

 its sheath, and when the advancing end of the catheter has reached 

 the bend of the urethra beneath the anus it must be guided forward 

 b}^ pressure with the hand, which guidance must be continued onward 

 into the bladder, the oiled hand being introduced into the rectum for 

 this purpose. The horse catheter, Si feet long and one-third inch in 

 diameter, maj^ be bought of a surgical-instrument maker. 



PARALYSIS OF THE BLADDER. 



Paralysis of the body of the bladder with spasm of the neck has 

 been described under the last heading, and may occur in the same way 

 from oyerdistention in tetanus, acute rheumatism, paraplegia, and 

 hemiplegia, in which the animal can not stretch himself to stale, and 

 in cystitis, affecting the body of the bladder but not the neck. In all 

 these cases the urine is suppressed. It also occurs as a result of 

 disease of the posterior end of the spinal marrow and with broken 

 back, and is then associated with palsy of the tail, and, it ma}^ be, of 

 the hind limbs. 



Si/mjjtoms. — The sj'^mptoms are a constant dribbling of urine when 

 the neck is involved, the liquid running down the inside of the thighs 

 and irritating the skin. When the neck is unaffected the urine is 

 retained until the bladder is greatly overdistended, when it may be 

 expelled in a gush by the active contraction of the muscular walls of 

 the abdomen; but this never empties the bladder, and the oiled hand 

 introduced through the rectum may feel the soft, flabby organ still 

 half full of urine. This retained urine is liable to decompos^^ and give 

 off ammonia, which dissolves the epithelial cells, exposing ■ lie raw 

 mucous membrane and causing the worst type of ^-ystitis. Suppres- 

 sion and incontinence of urine are common also to obstruction of the 

 urethra by stone or otherwise; hence this source of fallacy should be 

 excluded by manual examination along the whole course of that duct. 



Treatment. — Treatment is onl}^ applicable in cases in which the deter- 



