FATTY DEGENERATION OF THE KIDNEY : STEATO- 

 SIS OF THE KIDNEY. 



Causes : age, overfeeding, idleness, atony, retention of urine. Lesions : 

 kidney enlarged, pale yellow, capsule loose, cut surface glistening uuctuous, 

 oil globules in scrapings, granules soluble in ether. Symptoms : in idle, 

 overfed, obese, improved meat producing breeds, closely confined, starchy 

 or saccharine food, fatty granules in urine, finally, dropsies,an8emia, debility, 

 sluggishness. Prognosis unfavorable in advanced stages. Treatment : 

 butcher, restricted regimen, open air exercise, nitrogenous diet, crossing, 

 diuretic food or drugs, oil of turpentine, balsam copiaba. Palliation only. 



Fatty degeneration of the kidneys is by no means unknown in 

 the domestic animals. It has been observed in dogs and cats 

 (Rogers, Goubaux, Vulpain, Trasbot). In dogs it has been 

 erroneously set down as a characteristic lesion of rabies. Eike ■ 

 fatty degeneration of other organs, it is also met with in old 

 and over-fed individuals of meat producing breeds of animals, in 

 which the tendency to early maturity and rapid and excessive 

 fattening has been fostered from generation to generation. In 

 man small, granular, fatty kidney is a common result of chronic 

 parenchymatous nephritis, and often coincides with fatty liver. 

 Chronic poisoning by arsenic or phosphorus is another cause, as 

 it is of fatty degeneration in other organs. 



Vulpain has attributed it to a lack of active exertion and of 

 general tone, associated with excessive amylaceous feeding, 

 sluggish, shallow breathing and tardy elimination. Goubaux 

 and Trasbot attach great importance to the compulsory retention 

 of urine in house dogs, cats and horses. The damming back 

 of the urine in the convoluted tubes and glomeruli, temporarily 

 arrests secretion, and the inactive and compressed cells tend 

 at once to granular and fatty degeneration. 



Lesions. The gland is sensibly increased in size, and pale 

 yellowish or straw yellow. The capsule is easily detached from 

 the cortical substance, contrary to what is the case in chronic pro- 

 ductive inflammation. The cortical substance is increased in 

 thickness, and pale, the pallor being largely in ratio with the du- 

 ration or extent of the fatty degeneration. The cut surface may 

 be glistening and unctuous to the touch. It is softer than usual> 

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