Special Report on Diseases of the HorseUnited States. Bureau of Animal Industry
Science
Special Report on Diseases of the Horse
United States. Bureau of Animal Industry
Horses -- Diseases
The physical examination of the sexual and generative organs is made in
large part through the rectum, and this portion of the examination
should be carried out by a veterinarian only. By this means it is
possible to discover or locate cysts of the kidneys, urinary calculi in
the ureters, bladder, or upper urethra, malformations, and acute
inflammations accompanied by pain. The external genital organs are
swollen, discolored, or show a discharge as a result of local disease or
from disease higher in the tract.
The manner of urinating is sometimes of considerable diagnostic
importance. Painful urination is shown by frequent attempts, during
which but a small quantity of urine is passed; by groaning, by
constrained attitude, etc. This condition comes from inflammation of the
bladder or urethra, urinary calculi (stones of the bladder or urethra),
hemorrhage, tumors, bruises, etc. The urine is retained from spasms of
the muscle at the neck of the bladder, from calculi, inflammatory
growths, tumors, and paralysis of the bladder.
The urine dribbles without control when the neck of the bladder is
weakened or paralyzed. This condition is seen after the bladder is
weakened from long-continued retention and where there is a partial
paralysis of the hind quarters.
Horses usually void urine five to seven times a day, and pass from 4 to
7 quarts. Disease may be shown by increase in the number of voidings or
of the quantity. Frequent urination indicates an irritable or painful
condition of the bladder or urethra or that the quantity is excessive.
In one form of chronic inflammation of the kidneys (interstitial
nephritis) and in polyuria the quantity may be increased to 20 or 30
quarts daily. Diminution in the quantity of urine comes from profuse
sweating, diarrhea, high fever, weak heart, diseased and nonsecreting
kidneys, or an obstruction to the flow.
The urine of the healthy horse is a pale or at times a slightly reddish
yellow. The color is less intense when the quantity is large, and is
more intense when the quantity is diminished. Dark-brown urine is seen
in azoturia and in severe acute muscular rheumatism. A brownish-green
color is seen in jaundice. Red color indicates admixture of blood from a
bleeding point at some part of the urinary tract, usually in the
kidneys.
The urine of the healthy horse is not clear and transparent. It contains
mucus, which causes it to be slightly thick and stringy, and a certain
amount of undissolved carbonates, causing it to be cloudy. A sediment
collects when the urine is allowed to stand. The urine of the horse is
normally alkaline. If it becomes acid the bodies in suspension are
dissolved and the urine is made clear. The urine may be unusually cloudy
from the addition of abnormal constituents, but to determine their
character a chemical or microscopic examination is necessary. Red or
reddish flakes or clumps in the urine are always abnormal, and denote a
hemorrhage or suppuration in the urinary tract.
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