750 



GENItO-URlNARY ORGANS. 



appendix and a soft gutta-percha sound is passed. The sabulous 

 accumulation is thus dispersed. 



(3.) Urethrotomy. — Scrotal urethrotomy may be performed as in 

 the ox. 



Ischial urethrotomy is impracticable in very fat animals, but when 



Fig. 307. — Passing the catheter in the cow. 



the obstruction is about the neck of the bladder, and the animal's 

 condition admits of it, this operation may be performed. 



The patient is fixed on its back, and a metallic or gutta-percha 

 sound is passed into the urethra. The tissues are incised layer by 

 layer in the direction of the sound. Once the urethra has been 



c^' 



O. 



Fig. 308. — Catheter for cows. 



opened the soft magma may be washed out of the bladder by a free 

 injection of boiled water or similar aseptic liquid. 



PASSAGE OF THE CATHETER IN THE COW. 



It sometimes becomes necessary to examine the bladder of the cow. 



There is an obstacle, however, to the introduction of the sound 

 into the urethral canal. The meatus urinarius is covered by a little 

 valve which springs from the lower wall and forms behind the real 

 opening of the urethra a cul-de-sac, into which the . point of the 

 catheter is apt to pass. The instrument usually employed is of 

 gutta-percha, glass, or, better still, of metal, as more easily sterilised 

 (Fig. 308). It is held like a pen, and is directed along the floor of 



