ACUTE INFLAMMATION OF THE KIDNEYS 181 



caustic soda; this mixture is boiled five minutes, and if sugar is present 

 the mixture becomes bhick. 



Fermentation Test. — This test is always to be preferred in dul^ious 

 cases; it is also useful to determine the quantity of sugar present. In 

 this test the saccharometer is used. The method consists in adding a 

 small quantity of yeast to a certain proportion of urine; for further de- 

 tails the reader is referred to works on the chemical analysis of urine. 



In diabetes mellitus a large quantity of sugar is generally found 

 in the urine. This disease, however, is extremely rare in the dog. It 

 is also found when the animal has been fed on a pure sugar diet. A con- 

 siderable amount of sugar has been found in the urine of bitches that 

 were nursing, especially when the pups were prevented from nursing 

 for some time. The writer cannot say whether it is found in the dog 

 in certain cases of poisoning, or from some neurotic causes. 



Coloring Substance of the Bile. — The coloring substances of the bile 

 are found quite frequently in the urine of the dog. The presence of 

 these indicates an obstruction in the excretion of bile. It may often be 

 seen in catarrh of the intestines and in the gastric form of distemper. 

 Icterus is the most common cause of this condition. (For further in- 

 formation, see icterus.) Frohner found this also in neurosis and bronchial 

 forms of distemper, in some diseases of the kidneys, in pleuritis, and in 

 great heart weakness. Voigt also found it in animals that were starved. 

 Bile acids in the urine are of no diagnostic value in the dog, and will not 

 be taken up in this work. 



DISEASES OF THE KIDNEYS. 

 Inflammation of the Kidneys; Nephritis. 



It is impossible to accurately separate the different inflammatory 

 conditions of the kidneys, and as a rule it is only on post-mortem that 

 the condition can be properly diagnosed. Consequently, the practi- 

 tioner has to be satisfied if he can recognize with certainty that the pnimal 

 has some affection of the kidneys, and whether it is acute or chronic. 

 In the dog it is only in chronic nephritis that we find a general atrophy 

 of the kidney. 



Acute inflammation of the kidney may be traced to severe cold, 

 to traumatisms, or to sympathetic irritation from adjacent organs, or 

 to acute catarrh of an infectious or toxic character. 



The diseases of the kidneys in the dog do not pos-<\''^ that impor- 

 tance that they do in man. 



