CHAPTER VI. 



DISEASES OF THE URINARY ORGANS. 



I. Nephritis. 

 NEPHRITIS, or inflammation of the kidney, in the dog is by no means a very common disease. 



Causes of Nephritis. First must be mentioned our old enemies, cold and damp, especially 

 if it be applied directly to the loins, as in the case of a dog left to sit out of doors all night 

 in the rain ; a dog, that is, who is in a weak state of health, or whose blood is impoverished 

 by bad feeding. Blows and kicks occasionally produce it ; the presence of a stone in the pelvis 

 of the kidney may give rise to it ; so may many irritating medicines, such as copaiba, cubebs, 

 turpentine, and cantharides, when given in too large doses. 



Symptoms. The disease is ushered in with shivering, staring of the coat, and a generally 

 dejected appearance of the poor dog. We then have thirst and fever, with a hard pulse, if 

 you care to examine it ; and there is often sickness and vomiting. The animal is evidently 

 in great pain ; but there is less restlessness than we find in some inflammatory disorders 

 hepatitis, for instance. There is pain, and there is stiffness in the region of the loins, with 

 some degree of tenderness on pressure. There is a frequent desire to micturate, and some- 

 times suppression of urine ; or the urine, if passed, is scanty, high-coloured, and may contain 

 blood, or even pus. The bowels are constipated, and the belly probably tympanitic, and the 

 testicles retracted, one or both. If the disease goes on favourably, there is gradual mitigation 

 of all the symptoms ; if not, and the retention of urine is not relieved, delirium may occur, 

 succeeded by coma and death. 



Diagnosis. It is most commonly confounded with lumbago, but in the latter case we will 

 have more tenderness on pressure and no sickness, and loss of appetite ; nor in lumbago are the 

 bowels necessarily constipated. It may also be mistaken for the pain of the passage of a 

 calculus along the urethra to the bladder, but here the pain and distress of the dog is ever so 

 much greater for the time. Injuries to the spine generally have a previous history. 



Treatment. We must try to give the kidneys all the rest we can, and endeavour to reduce 

 the inflammation, and get rid of a portion at least of the urea of the blood by the bowel. This 

 may be done by purgatives, podophyllin and jalap, or elaterium may be tried. 



$ Jalap resin. ... gr. j. ad gr. v. 

 Podophyll. ... gr. T V ad gr. iij. 

 Ext. hyoscy. ... gr. ij. ad gr. viij. 

 Pil j. M. 



To be given every morning. 



From two to fifteen grains of factitious Dover's Powder must be given twice a day, the dog 

 being kept warm and dry and clean. Plenty of hot poppy fomentations must be applied to the 

 loins (occasionally the flat iron may do good), and followed up by large linseed-meal and mustard 

 poultices. Enemas of hot water (not too hot) often do good, and the vomiting and sickness 

 may be relieved by giving occasional doses of dilute hydrocyanic acid, from one to five drops, 

 and by applying mustard poultices to the region of the stomach. 

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