666 



OPERATIONS. 



Catheter, Passing the. 



Tlie male ontheter is a long, floxil)le tube of somewhat smaller 

 diameter than the uretlira (the canal by which the urine escapes 

 from the bladder) and is used to draw off the urine which the 

 animal is unable to discharge. It is provided witli a wlialebone 

 stillet to give it rigidity. 



The horse should be back-raked [irevious to the operation. If 



Fiy. 171. — LifLing up the horse's head when he is on the ground. 



the catheter is to be passed while he is standing up), his two hind 

 legs may be hobbled together, a fore leg held up, and a twitch 

 applied to his upper lip. 



An assistant should draw out the head of the penis (c/lnns penis) 

 from the sheath. If he finds difficult)' in inserting his hand, he 

 should oil or grease the back of it. The operator, stauding on the 

 right side of the animal, and having oiled the point of the catheter, 

 should introduce it carefully into the urethra (F'ig. 141, p. 349), and 

 pass the catheter, containing the stillet, gently upwards until its 

 point arrives at the bend which the urethra makes before it enters 

 the bladder. The catheter can be felt, by the finger, on the 

 median line directly underneath the anus. When the point of the 

 catheter arrives at the bony prominence just below that part, with- 



