DISEASES OP THE URINARY ORGANS. 147 



Causes. — The causes are usually hard and continuous driving 

 without opportunity for passing urine, cold rainstorms, drafts of 

 cold air when perspiring and fatigued, the administration of 

 Spanish fly or the application of extensive blisters of the same, 

 abuse of diuretics, the presence of acrid, diuretic plants in the 

 fodder, and the presence of stone in the bladder. As most mares 

 refuse to urinate while in harness, they should be unhitched at 

 suitable times for urination. Spasms of the bowels are always 

 attended by spasm of the bladder, hence the free passage of water 

 is usually a symptom of relief. 



Symptoms. — The symptoms are frequent stretching and strain- 

 ing to urinate, with no result or a slight dribbling only. These 

 vain efforts are attended by pain and groaning. On resuming his 

 natural position the animal is not freed from the pain, but moves 

 uneasily, paws, shakes the tail, kicks at the abdomen with his hind 

 feet, looks back to the flank, lies down and rises, arches the back, 

 and attempts to urinate as before. If the oiled hand is introduced 

 into the rectum the greatly distended bladder may be felt beneath, 

 and the patient will often shrink when it is handled. 



It is important to notice that irritation of the urinary organs is 

 often present in impaction of the colon with solid matters, because 

 the impacted intestine under the straining of the patient is forced 

 backward into the pelvis and presses upon and irritates the bladder. 

 In such cases the horse stands with his fore limbs advanced and 

 the hind ones stretched back beyond the natural posture and makes 

 frequent efforts to urinate, with varying success. Unpracticed ob- 

 servers naturally conclude that the secondary urinary trouble is 

 the main and only one, and the intestinal impaction and obstruction 

 is too often neglected until it is irremediable. In cases in which 

 the irritation has caused spasm of the neck of the bladder and 

 overdistention of that organ, the mistake is still more easily made; 

 hence it is important in all cases to examine for the impacted bowel, 

 forming a bend or loop at the entrance of the pelvis and usually 

 toward the left side. The impacted intestine feels soft and doughy 

 and is easily indented with the knuckles, forming a marked contrast 

 with the tense, elastic, resilient, overdistended 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 newborn by thickened mucus in that duct and by the pres- 

 sure of hardened, impacted feces in the rectum. In obstruction, 

 the hard, impacted body can usually be felt by tracing the 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 



