396 DISEASES OF THE KIDNEYS 



Treatment.— Dietetic— Improve the general condition of 

 the animal by giving plenty of milk and easily digested food. 

 Avoid highly nitrogenous foods. 



Medical— The first thing to be considered from a medical 

 standpoint is to sustain and strengthen the heart action by 

 giving small doses of fluidextract digitalis (0.1 to 0.15) daily. 

 As a diuretic, administer diuretin (0.2 to 0.4) twice daily. 

 Calomel is useful in dogs to keep the bowels open and assist 

 in the elimination of waste products. 



In dropsical conditions (ascites) small doses of pilocarpin 

 (dog and cat 0.003-0.01) may be administered once daily. 

 Small doses of potassium iodid (0.06-0.2) are to be admin- 

 istered as a resorbent once daily to dogs. 



Surgical.— When ascites threatens the life of the animal 

 the fluid should be removed with a trocar. (See Abdominal 

 Puncture.) 



Purulent Nephritis.— Kidney Abscess. — Definition.— An in- 

 flammation of the kidneys resulting from infection and 

 characterized by the formation of either numerous small 

 purulent foci, or larger abscesses. 



Etiology.— A very common cause of this condition is the 

 infection reaching the renal tissue from the blood stream 

 (hematogenous). This mode of infection in most cases 

 follows diseases of other organs, or pyemia, such as endo- 

 metritis puerperalis in the bitch and cat; mammitis, pneu- 

 monia, phlegmonous pharyngitis in the cat; purulent bron- 

 chial catarrh, distemper, and, in puppies, infection at birth. 

 It has been found that purulent nephritis will be produced 

 in animals without any particular focus of infection. In 

 cases of general reduced resistance the organisms may find 

 their way to the renal tissue, develop and form abscesses. 



Traumatic causes are quite common in small animals as 

 injuries over the region of the kidneys are frequent. These 

 may bring about the condition by reducing the local resist- 

 ance and the accompanying inflammation makes a favorable 

 place for the development of organisms which are present 

 in the blood stream. 



Urogenic causes are perhaps the most frequent. The 



