STONE IN THE BLADDER. 177 



Studensky placed foreign bodies in the bladder and found that 

 ■when the animal was allowed to drink only water that was thor- 

 oughly impregnated with lime salts that there was soon formed 

 over the body a thick, heavy deposit of lime salts, and differed 

 greatly in animals fed in the usual way, with pure water and meat. 

 In this case the calcretion was much smaller and deposited much 

 more slowly. 



Clinical, Symptoms and Course. When the uric calculus 

 lies in the bladder and has not attained any size it may stay there 

 a long time and not produce any severe symptoms, with the excep- 

 tion of a slight catarrh, and that is only noticed when the animal 

 has had a long run, the urine being voided with great difficulty, 

 perhaps mixed with blood or mucus, and has a penetrating odor. 

 As soon, however, as the stone gets into the neck of the blailder 

 or passes into the urethra and lodges at the posterior end of the 

 bone of the penis there is a series of severe symptoms. The urine 

 is retained, which is indicated by an entire suppression, or it is 

 passed in a thin stream or only by a drop at a time. A partial 

 obstruction of urine is soon followed by a complete obstruction. 



The symptoms presented in the dog are very striking. The 

 animals are very restless, looking frequeatly towards the region of 

 the kidney and whining. They place themselves in the position 

 to urinate and strain violently without any result, or it may be a 

 few drops are passed; this may be mixed with blood. The appe- 

 tite is lost and the pulse is rapid and thready ; they stand with an 

 arched back or walk with a staggering gait and extended legs. 

 The abdomen becomes distended, and we can finally feel the 

 bladder through the abdominal walls like a hard, distended body 

 that is very painful on examination. When the catheter is passed 

 it goes in easily enough until the neck of the bladder is reached, 

 when it stops and cannot be passed any further, and no urine 

 escapes from the catheter. 



Uric calculi lie on the floor of the bladder and can be felt 

 through the abdominal walls by manipulation — that is, of course, 

 when they have reached a good size ; the small ones escape detec- 

 tion, but they may be suspected when the urine has a gravel or 

 sand-like sediment. 



The urine, when it is retained in the bladder, gradually accu- 

 mulates, and if it is not drawn ofE in three days the bladder is 



12 



