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144 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 
other organs and during fevers. This may last only during the exist- 
ence of its cause, or may persist and become aggravated. Heart dis- 
ease, throwing the blood pressure back on the veins and kidneys, 
is another cause. Disease of the uretér or bladder, preventing the 
escape of urine from the kidney and causing increased fullness and 
tension in its pelvis and tubes, will determine inflammation. Decom- 
position of the detained urine in such cases and the production of 
ammonia and other irritants must also be named. In elimination of 
bacteria through the kidney, the latter is liable to infection with con- 
sequent inflammation. The advance of bacteria upward from the 
bladder to the kidneys is another cause. The consumption in hay or 
other fodder of acrid or irritant plants, including fungi, the absorp- 
tion of ‘cantharidine from a surface blistered by Spanish flies, the 
reckless administration of diuretics, the presence of stones in the 
kidney, exposure of the surface to cold and wet, and the infliction of 
blows or sprains on the loins, may contribute to its production. Liver 
disorders which throw on the kidneys the work of excreting irritant 
products, diseases of the lungs and heart from which clots are car- 
ried, to be arrested in the small blood vessels of the kidney, and 
injuries and paralysis of the spinal cord, are additional causes. 
Symptoms.—The symptoms are more or less fever, manifest stiff- 
ness of the back and straddling gait with the hind limbs, difficulty in 
lying down and rising, or in walking in a circle, the animal sometimes 
groaning under the effort, arching of the loins and tucking up of the 
flank, looking back at the abdomen as if from colicky pain, and ten- 
derness of the loins to pinching, especially just beneath the bony 
processes 6 inches to one side of the median line. Urine is passed 
frequently, a small quantity at a time, of a high color, and sometimes 
mixed with blood or even pus. Under the microscope it shows the 
microscopic casts referred to under general symptoms. If treated by 
acetic acid, boiling and subsequent addition of strong nitric acid, the 
resulting and persistent precipitate indicates the amount of albumen. 
The legs tend to swell from the foot up, also the dependent parts 
beneath the belly and chest, and effusions of liquid may occur within 
the chest or abdomen. In the male the alternate drawing up and 
relaxation of the testicles in the scrotum are suggestive, and in small 
horses the oiled hand introduced into the rectum may reach the 
kidney and ascertain its sensitiveness. 
Treatment demands, first, the removal of any recognized cause. 
Then, if the suffering and fever are high, 2 to 4 quarts of blood may 
be abstracted from the jugular vein; in weak subjects or unless in 
high fever this should be omitted. Next relieve the kidneys so far 
as possible by throwing their work on the bowels and skin. A pint 
of castor oil is less likely than either aloes or salts to act on the kid- 
neys. To affect the skin a warm stall and heavy clothing may be 
