180 DISEASES OF THE URINARY AND SEXUAL APPARATUS. 



crushed, and the bladder washed out. It is necessary to introduce one 

 finger into the recturn to guide the stone into the forceps before it can be 

 grasped. Great care must be taken in such an operation to avoid crushing 

 the tissues. In the bitch there is no after-treatment necessary. 



When the bladder is so distended that it is deemed dangerous 

 to operate before emptying the bladder of its contents, we may- 

 empty the bladder by means of a fine trocar and canula. In the 

 bitch the trocar should be introduced on the median line at the 

 brim of the pelvis, and in the dog either on the right or left side 

 of the flank, low down and as near as possible to the brim of the 

 pelvis. 



Sometimes ruptures of the bladder are caused by accidents, such 

 as being run over by wagons when the bladder is full. The ani- 

 mal dies, as a rule, in forty-eight hours from collapse before peri- 

 tonitis has developed. On post-mortem the bladder is found to 

 be infiltrated with blood and very much swollen at the lacerated 

 region only. In injuries to the lumbar region where the animal 

 is dull and comatose it is always well to consider the prognosis 

 doubtful, and Siedamgrotzky deems it advisable to consider the 

 prognosis doubtful in injuries to that region, even where there are 

 no acute symptoms presented. 



Indications of painful retention of urine are often presented when 

 there is a stricture of the urethra caused by injuries to the urethra 

 from calculi or by cicatricial contraction following the oper- 

 ator's knife, from intense nephritis, or by torsion following coitus. 

 An examination with the catheter generally gives some informa- 

 tion as to the character of the stricture; the practitioner must, 

 however, remember that there is always more or less normal stric- 

 ture at the posterior end of the bone of the penis. The sound 

 must be passed each day and allowed to remain about twenty 

 minutes; if the stricture will admit of it, the size of the catheters 

 must be gradually increased; great care must be taken to thor- 

 oughly disinfect the catheters. This method has been used with 

 success in a number of cases when it has continued for several 

 weeks. 



HofEmann cured a case of stricture of the posterior end of the 

 bone of the penis by opening the urethra at the spot of stricture 

 and amputating about 2 cm. of tiie bone of the penis with a pair 

 of bone forceps. 



