170 INFLAMMATION OF THE BLADDER. 



stone, are occasional causes of this disease. It is 

 recognizable by the frequency of the staling ; by the 

 mingling of mucus, or pus, or blood with the urine ; 

 by the additional heat which is felt when the hand, 

 introduced into the rectum, rests upon the bladder, 

 which will be small, hard, and empty ; and also by the 

 acute pain which pressure to the flank occasions, as 

 evinced by the actions of the animal. 



Little can be done in such a case. Bleeding and 

 mild physicking would perhaps be indicated, with 

 plenty of linseed tea : and some relief might be ob- 

 tained by the injection of linseed tea, in which seda- 

 tives, as opium or belladonna, are dissolved, into the 

 bladder, which may be accomplished by means of a 

 horse catheter invented by the late Mr. Read. The 

 aloes, if any be given, must be good, and not in too 

 great quantity; for the lower intestines generally 

 sympathize considerably with the irritable state of the 

 bladder; and if there is not much purging there may 

 be dangerous inflammation of the bowels. 



A slighter degree of inflammation, properly de- 

 scribed as " irritability of the bladder," is frequently 

 observed. The urine dribbles away in small quan- 

 tities, and is occasionally mingled with blood, the 

 consequence of some previous disease of the bladder, 

 or, perhaps, of some derangement of the digestive 

 organs. This is suffered to continue and increase 

 until the horse loses condition ; the appetite is im- 

 paired, and the animal becomes unfitted for work. 



Small quantities of aperient medicine, with vege- 

 table tonics, will be serviceable in this case. 



