1 78 DISEASES OF THE UBINAB Y AND SEXUAL APPABA TUS. 



ruptured and it may even burst in two days; when this occurs it 

 causes death in a few hours, with the following symptoms: the 

 animal becomes dull or comatose, with shaking or trembling of the 

 muscles; the restlessness and pain seem to have disappeared. 

 Pressure on the abdomen may produce slight evidence of pain, 

 but in the majority of cases this is absent. After the first two 

 hours the abdominal wall is covered with a cold sweat ; the blad- 

 der cannot be felt on manipulation. Soon a deep coma sets in, 

 from which the animal cannot be roused, and dies in a short time. 

 In rare instances the animal may have convulsions, which occur 

 with short intervals between them. Death may also occur before 

 the bladder has ruptured, as a consequence of extensive gangrenous 

 cystitis. 



Therapeutics. It has been thoroughly established that it i& 

 impossible to produce any good results from the injection into the 

 bladder of any of the various agents that are supposed to have 

 the property of dissolving calculi; for instance, acids for dissolving 

 phosphatic calculi, alkalines for breaking up uric calculi, or the 

 drinking of mineral- waters, such as Vichy, Wildung, Carlsbad. 

 There is nothing left then but to remove the stone by mean& 

 of an operation, called urethrotomy, if it is lodged in the urethra, 

 which consists in opening the urethra in the dog at the posterior 

 end of the bone of the penis, or cystotomy if the stone is in the 

 bladder ; this is performed by opening the urethra at the ischial 

 arch, and by means of a small pair of forceps introduced intO' 

 the bladder through the urethra the stone is grasped and crushed 

 and afterward washed out of the bladder. In the bitch an in- 

 cision is made into the short urethra and the stone is seized and 

 crushed in a like manner. 



When ischuria or stoppage of urine is present the treatment 

 depends to a large extent on the location of the calculus — that is, 

 whether it is in the neck of the bladder or whether it has gone 

 into the urethra some distance and lodged there. In the first in- 

 stance we can sometimes introduce the catheter, and by a gradual 

 pressure we can push the stone into the bladder ; or, if it is fur- 

 ther iu the urethra, we can push a well-lubricated catheter past 

 the stone and allow the escape of urine and prepare for the opera- 

 tion, for if the stone is in the urethra this must be performed 

 immediately. 



