150 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 



is pressed in the region of the sheath or udder, and the bladder is 

 found to be sensitive and tender when pressed with the oiled hand 

 introduced through the rectum or vagina. In the mare the thicken^ 

 ing of the walls of the bladder may be felt by introducing one fingei; 

 through the urethra. The discharged urine, which may be turbid or 

 even oily, contains an excess of mucus, with flat shreds of membrane, 

 with scaly epithelial cells, and pus corpuscles, each showing two or 

 more nuclei when treated with acetic acid, but there are no micro- 

 scopic tubular casts, as in nephritis. If due to stone in the bladder, 

 that will be found on examination through rectum or vagina. 



Treatment implies, first, the removal of the cause, whether poisons 

 in feed or as medicine, the removal of Spanish flies or other blistering 

 agents from the skin, or the extraction of stone or gravel. If the 

 urine has been retained and decomposed it must be completely evacu- 

 ated through a clean catheter, and the bladder thoroughly washed out 

 with a solution of 1 dram of borax in a quart of water. This must 

 be repeated twice daily until the urine no longer decomposes, be- 

 cause so long as ammonia is developed in the bladder the protecting 

 layer of epithelial cells will be dissolved and the surface kept raw 

 and irritable. The diet must be light (bran mashes, roots, fresh 

 grass), and the drink impregnated with linseed tea, or solution of 

 slippery elm or marsh mallow. The same agents may be used to 

 inject into the rectum, or they may even be used along with borax 

 and opium to inject into bladder (gum arable 1 dram, opium 1 dram, 

 tepid water 1 pint). Fomentations over the loins are often of great 

 advantage, and these may be followed or alternated with the appli- 

 cation of mustard, as in paralysis ; or the mustard may be applied on 

 the back part of the abdomen below or between the thighs from the 

 anus downward. Finally, when the acute symptoms have subsided, 

 a daily dose of buchu 1 dram and nux vomica one-half dram will 

 serve to restore lost tone. 



IRRITABLE BLADDER. 



Some horses, and especially mares, show an irritability of the blad- 

 der and nerve centers presiding over it by frequent urination in small 

 quantities, though the urine is not manifestly changed in character 

 and no more than the natural quantity is passed in the twenty-four 

 hours. The disorder appears to have its source quite as frequently in 

 the generative or nervous system as in the urinary. A troublesome 

 and dangerous form is seen in mares, which dash off and refuse all 

 control by the rein if driven with a full bladder, but usually prove 

 docile if the bladder has been emptied before hitching. In other 

 cases the excitement connected with getting the tail over the reins is 



