CATARRH OF THE BLADDER. 171 



of ammonia it produces aa irritating effect on the kidney ; continued 

 retention of urine, especially when it is heavily charged with salts, 

 acts as an irritant. It has been said that cold will produce cystitis, 

 but it is not positively known. 



Pathological Anatomy. There are quite a number of varie- 

 ties of cystitis — mucous, muscular, serous, croupal, ulcerous, diph- 

 theritic, and gangrenous — but, as a rule, it is very seldom that we 

 can distinguish the various forms, and it is best from a practical 

 standpoint to distinguish the disease in its different forms by acute 

 and chronic catarrh of the bladder. In the acute form the mucous 

 Tiembrane of the bladder is colored in an irregular way by dark- 

 red spots. It is also more or less swollen and covered with mucus 

 and detached epithelium. In the later stages of the disease the 

 mucous membrane may be covered with detached epithelium and 

 covered with small hemorrhagic spots. In very severe cases we 

 find a croupous membrane covering the bladder, and it may be so 

 acute as to cause gangrene, and mucous membrane is sloughed off 

 and extensive abscesses are formed. In such cases the muscular 

 and serous coats of the bladder are also greatly inflamed, and if the 

 irritation is extensive enough we may also find evidences of peri- 

 tonitis. 



In the chronic form the mucous membrane becomes very much 

 thickened and covered with enlarged mucous glands. The surface 

 presents a peculiar greenish or slate-gray color. This is due to the 

 hemorrhages that occur in the tissues from time to time. On the 

 surface we often find raised papilla-like formations, and the sub- 

 mucous tissues and muscles are hypertrophied. 



Clinical Symptoms and Couese. The first symptom noticed 

 in this disease is the passage of an increased amount of urine, the 

 animal emptying the bladder frequently, but passes only a small 

 quantity of urine each time, at the same time showing symptoms 

 of pain. On making an examination of the bladder through the 

 abdominal wall the animal shows pain on pressure of that region. 

 An examination of the urine by the microscope will assist us in 

 making a positive diagnosis. If there should be some disease of 

 the kidneys present, the specific gravity of the urine is not much 

 changed, but in the early stages of the disease it is somewhat 

 increased in salts and contains only a normal amount of mucus, a 

 few colorless blood-corpuscles, and epithelium of the bladder. This 



