72 



doughy, aud is easily indented with the knuckles, forming a marked 

 contrast with the tense, elastic, resilient overdisteuded bladder. 



It remains to be noted that similar symptoms may be determined by 

 a stone, or sebaceous mass, or stricture obstructing the urethra, or in 

 the new-born by thickened mucus in that duct aud the pressure of 

 hardened impacted feces in the rectum In obstruction, the Lard im- 

 pacted body can usually be felt by tracing tbe urethra'along the lower 

 and posterior surface of the penis and forward to the median line of 

 the floor of the pelvis to the neck of the bladder. That part of the 

 urethra between the seat of obstruction and the bladder is usually dis- 

 tended with urine, and feels enlarged, elastic, and fluctuating. 



Treatment may be begun by taking the animal out of harness. This 

 failing, spread clean litter beneath the belly or turn the patient out on 

 the dung-heap. Some seek to establish sympathetic action by pouring 

 water from one vessel into another with dribbling noise. Others soothe 

 and distract the attention by slow whistling. Friction of the abdomen 

 with wisps of straw may succeed, or it may be rubbed with ammonia 

 and oil. These failing, an injection of 2 ounces of laudanum or of a*i 

 infusion of 1 ounce of tobacco in water may be tried. In the mare the 

 neck of the bladder is easily dilated by inserting two oiled fingers and 

 slightly parting them. In the horse the oiled hand introduced into the 

 rectum may i^ress from before backward on the anterior or blind end of 

 the bladder. Finally a well-oiled gum elastic catheter may be entered 

 into the urethra through the papilla at the end of the penis and pushed 

 on carefully until it has entered the bladder. To effect this the penis 

 must first be withdrawn from its sheath, and when the advancing end 

 of the catheter has reached the bend of the urethra beneath the anus 

 it must be guided forward by pressure with the hand, which guidance 

 must be continued onward into the bladder, the oiled hand being intro- 

 duced into the rectum for this purpose. The horse catheter, 3i feet 

 long and one-third inch in diameter, may be bought of a surgical-instru- 

 ment maker. 



PARALYSIS OF THE BLADDER. 



Paralysis of the body of the bladder with spasm of the neck has been 

 described under the last heading, and may occur in the same way from 

 overdistension in tetanus, acute rheumatism, paraplegia, and hemi- 

 jjlegia, in which the animal can not stretch himself to stale, and in cys- 

 titis, affecting the body of the bladder but not the neck. In all these 

 cases the urine is suppressed. It also occurs as a result of disease of 

 the posterior end of the spinal marrow and with broken back, aud is 

 then associated with jjalsy of the tail, and it may be of the hind limbs. 



The symptoms are a constant dribbling of urine when the neck is in- 

 volved, the liquid running down the inside of the thighs and irritating 

 the skin. When the neck is unaffected the urine is retained until the 

 bladder is greatly overdisteuded, when it may be expelled in a gush 



