And therefore forms in the passages after secretion

And therefore forms in the passages after secretion

The carbonate of lime, which is present in large quantity in the urine of horses fed on green fodder, is practically insoluble, and therefore forms in the passages after secretion, and its microscopic rounded crystals give the urine of such horses a milky whiteness. It is this material which constitutes the soft, white, pultaceous mass that sometimes fills the bladder to repletion and requires to be washed out. In hay-fed horses carbonates are still abundant, while in those mainly grain-fed they are replaced by hippurates and phosphates the products of the wear of tissues the carbonates being the result of oxidation of the vegetable acids in the feed.

Carbonate of lime, therefore, is a very common constituent of urinary calculi in herbivora, and in many cases is the most abundant constituent.


Source: Diseases of the Horse