148 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 



bladder is usually distended with urine and feels enlarged, elastic, 

 and fluctuating. 



Treatment. — 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 sympa- 

 thetic 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 suc- 

 ceed, or it may be rubbed with ammonia and oil. These failing, an 

 injection of 2 ounces of laudanum or of an infusion of 1 oimce 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 

 press from before backward on the anterior or blind end of the blad- 

 der. 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 must first be withdrawn from its sheath, and when the advancing 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 introduced into the rectum for this purpose. The horse cathe- 

 ter, 3| feet long and one-third inch in diameter, may be bought of a 

 surgical-instrument 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 overdistention in tetanus, acute rheumatism, paraplegia, 

 and hemiplegia, in which the animal can not stretch himself to urinate, 

 and in cystitis, 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, and is then associated with palsy of the tail, and, it may be, of 

 the hind limbs. 



Symptoms. — The symptoms are a constant dribbling of urine when 

 the neck is involved, 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 overdistended, when it may be 

 expelled in a gush by the active contraction of the muscular walls of 

 the abdomen ; this never empties the bladder, however, and the oiled 

 hand introduced through the rectum may feel the soft, flabby organ 

 still half full of urine. This retained urine is liable to decompose 

 and give off ammonia, which dissolves the epithelial cells, exposing 

 the raw, mucous membrane and causing the worst type of cystitis. 



