PREVENTION, SYMPTOMS AND TREATMENT y X 



foals, which lick all objects, and eat manure, bedding and sand at 

 pasture. They should be kept stabled, and receive salt and the 

 specific, apomorphine, subcutaneously in i to 2 gr. doses once or 

 twice weekly. 



Diabetes Mellitus — Glycosuria. 



Diabetes mellitus is a disorder in which grape sugar is freely 

 discharged into the blood and eliminated in the urine. It is dis- 

 tinguished from glycosuria in that the latter refers to any condition 

 in which sugar is found in the urine, and it may be temporary and 

 of ho serious import (as in cattle and sheep or bitches after wean- 

 ing) ; whereas diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease in which sugar 

 is eliminated in the urine for months and perhaps years, and is 

 associated with well recognized and constant symptoms. The 

 disease is quite rare among the domestic animals, but is occasionally 

 seen in dogs, horses, and cattle. 



Symptoms. — The symptoms are in brief as follows: Emacia- 

 tion, thirst, ill-condition and progressive weakness, with the passage 

 of a large amount of urine having a high specific gravity (H. & D., 

 1040 to 1060), sweet, nauseous odor, and containing glucose. 

 Cataract and corneal ulcer are complications and, in dogs, nausea, 

 vomiting and diarrhea. Coma frequently terminates the disease. 

 To test for grape sugar in the urine, one may use the following 

 solution (Haines) : Dissolve gr. 30 of pure copper sulphate in 1 oz. 

 of distilled water and mix in well J / 2 oz. of glycerin ; then add 5 oz. 

 of liquor potassae. Boil a drachm of Haines Solution in a test tube 

 and after the boiling point is reached add 6 to 8 drops of the 

 suspected urine and boil one minute more. If sugar is present, a 

 yellow, orange or red precipitate will form in the test tube. In 

 herbivora, it is well to first boil and filter the urine to remove 

 phosphates before employing Haines test. 



Diabetes is a chronic and ultimately fatal disease and, although 

 proper treatment may prolong life (in human medicine, sometimes 



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