444 DISEASES OF URINARY ORaANS. 



Mares, at certain seasons, owing to sexual causes, are specially 

 liable to this affection from blisters. 



SYMPTOMS. — The lining membrane of the mouth — as well as 

 that of the whole intestinal canal — becomes red and inflamed. In 

 stallions and mares there is sexual excitement. " The urine is 

 voided frequently, and with difficulty and pain, as it is irritating 

 and burning; it is highly albuminous; the faeces are covered with 

 mucus and mixed with blood " (Gamgee). 



There is fever, pain, and excitement. The urine contains mucus, 

 with or without blood. If the symptoms be not alleviated, the 

 disease will generally run a fatal course in two or three days. 



TREATMENT. — If the disease results from a blister, wash the 

 blistered part with warm water which has some carbonate of potash 

 dissolved in it. Give the horse linseed tea to drink, and put him 

 on bran mashes. If he will eat, mix two ounces of the bicarbonate 

 of soda in the food daily, or divide them between two or three 

 drenches. Give the whites of a couple of dozen raw eggs, now 

 and then. Administer in a ball, three drachms of camphor twice 

 a day. If there be great pain, give once or twice in the day, two 

 drachms of the extract of belladonna in a ball, or, having pre- 

 viously made it into a soft mass with treacle and linseed meal, 

 place it between the back teeth to gradually dissolve. 



PRINCIPLES OF TREATMENT.— Both the bicarbonate of soda and the 

 linseed tea have a soothing effect on the mucous membrane, and the sedative 

 influence of camphor is well marked in cases of irritation of the urinary organs. 

 The belladonna acts as a sedative to these organs by causing contraction 

 of the blood-vessels of the part, and, thereby, tends to reduce the inflamma- 

 tion. It is a powerful sedative. The carbonate of potash forms a soap with 

 the oily matter of any portion of the blister which may have remained on the 

 spot, and thus aids in removing it. The white of egg gives protection against 

 the irritating action of the absorbed cantharides. 



Albuminous Urine. 



The existence of albumin in the urine generally arises from 

 causes unconnected with actual disorder of the urinary organs, 

 and is in no way inconsistent with health. Albumin is often 

 found in the urine after hard work ; and also during fatty de- 

 generation of the kidneys — a very rare and intractable complaint 

 among horses — the symptoms of which are : stiffness in movement; 

 and the continued practice by the affected animal of standing 

 stretched out in his stall, as if he were about to stale. 



To test for albumin in the urine, put a small quantity of the fluid into a test- 

 tube, add a few drops of acetic acid, or vinegar, to neutralise it (as albumin 

 is soluble by an alkali), and boil the fluid over a lamp. If albumin be present, 



