DISEASES OF THE URINARY ORGANS. I15 



Changes in the Urine. In health the urine of the horse is of a 

 deep amber color and it has a strong odor. On a feed of grain and hay 

 it may show a uniform transparency, while on grass there is an abundant 

 white deposit of lime. There is scarcely an important organ of the 

 body that can suffer derangement without its showing in the urinary 

 system. Therefore, the condition and changes found in the urine, while 

 . they may not mark a direct disorder of the urinary system, tliey serve as 

 an indication of a disturbance of some organ, and these changes are often 

 a great help in determining the character of a disease. The action of 

 the skin and the action of the urinary system are closely allied. In 

 summer when there is profuse sweating, the quantity of urine is less- 

 ened, but in winter when there is but a small quantity of liquid exhaled 

 through the skin, the urine is increased in quantity. This action of the 

 skin and kidneys usually balance and keep within the limits of health, 

 but the quantity of urine may become so small that there is not enough 

 liquid to properly hold in solution and carry off the solids, and then 

 crystalize and form stone and gravel. 



A disordered liver may produce an excess of biliary coloring-matter 

 and stain the urine, or may cause an excess of acid (hippuric) and allied 

 products which being less soluble than the normal product of tissue 

 change (urea) favor the formation of stone. 



A disorder which causes a decrease in the functions of the lungs may 

 <;ause an excess of acid (hippuric) and allied bodies, or of oxalic acid or 

 «ugar in the urine, which will irritate the kidneys even if they do not 

 produce solid deposits in the urinary passages. 



A disease of the nervous system, especially those that affect the base 

 of the brain and spinal cord, may induce a urinary disorder prominent 

 among them are diabetes, albumenaria, and chylous urine. 



A disease that causes imperfect nutrition or a destruction of the bony 

 tissues, causes a deposit of phosphates of lime and magnesia, in the 

 urine. This may lead to the formation of stone and gravel. 



An extended inflammation or an acute fever will lessen the liquids of 

 the urine, while tl'e solids (waste products) are increased, and the over- 

 charged urine is irritating to the urinary organs, or the waste products 

 not being taken out by the action of the kidneys will poison the system. 



Feeding green vegetables covered with hoar-frost or furnishing an ex- 

 cess of food rich in phosphates (wheat bran, beans, pease, vetches, len- 

 tils, rape-cake, cotton-seed cake) or a privation of water which entails a 

 concentrated condition and high density of the urine may irritate the 



