DISEASES OF HORSES AND CATTLE. 121 



<>* opium three or four times a day. Keep the ani- 

 mal warm and as comfortable as possible 



Retention of Urine. — The causes are numerous. 

 Hertwig mentions, first, inflammation of the neck 

 of the bladder or of the urethra; second, paralysis 

 of bladder or spasms of its neck; third, stones in 

 the bladder or a polypus in the neck of the bladder; 

 fourth, stones in the urinary passage; fifth, con- 

 traction of the passage; sixth, obstructions, at the 

 mouth of the opening, and in some few cases from 

 an accumulation of mucous in the passage. I re- 

 member haying a well-marked case of this kind in 

 an old horse which was troubled with albuminous 

 urine: one morning the animal was in great dis- 

 tress, stretching out and making ineffectual at- 

 tempts to pass urine, showing signs of colic, lying 

 down carefully, getting up again, and in a contin- 

 uous state of unrest. I was called to see the ani- 

 mal, and in looking it over I discovered a lump on 

 the urethra a little below the root of the tail, and 

 on feeling it, it was soft; I pressed it up and down 

 for a few minutes, when it finally gave away, and 

 the next minute the animal passed off a large quan- 

 tity of urine and was at once relieved. The gen- 

 eral symptoms of this trouble are: The animal 

 makes ineffectual attempts to pass urine and 

 shows signs of pain, kicks with its hind feet, lies 

 down very carefully, but soon gets up again. The 

 method of findiug the true nature of the disease 

 is to examine the track of the passage to see if 

 there is any external obstruction; if none is found, 

 then clean out the rectum and introduce your hand, 



