Diseases Of The Horse

quarta-feira, 8 de janeiro de 2014

Acute Inflammation of The Kidneys, or Acute Nephritis.

Inflammations of the kidneys have been differentiated widely, according as they were acute or chronic, parenchymatous or tubal, suppurative or not, with increased or shrunken kidney, etc. In a work like the present, however, utility will be consulted by classing all under acute or chronic inflammation.

Causes. The causes of inflammation of the kidneys are extremely varied. Congestion occurs from the altered and irritant products passed through these organs during recovery from inflammations of other organs and during fevers. This may last only during the existence of its cause, or may persist and become aggravated. Heart disease, throwing the blood pressure back on the veins and kidneys, is another cause. Disease of the ureter or bladder, preventing the escape of urine from the kidney and causing increased fullness and tension in its pelvis and tubes, will determine inflammation. Decomposition of the detained urine in such cases and the production of ammonia and other irritants must also be named. In elimination of bacteria through the kidney, the latter is liable to infection with consequent inflammation. The advance of bacteria upward from the bladder to the kidneys is another cause. The consumption in hay or other fodder of acrid or irritant plants, including fungi, the absorption of cantharidine from a surface blistered by Spanish flies, the reckless administration of diuretics, the presence of stones in the kidney, exposure of the surface to cold and wet, and the infliction of blows or sprains on the loins, may contribute to its production. Liver disorders which throw on the kidneys the work of excreting irritant products, diseases of the lungs and heart from which clots are carried, to be arrested in the small blood vessels of the kidney, and injuries and paralysis of the spinal cord, are additional causes.

Source: Diseases of the Horse

During the course of the disease friction to the limbs is useful

During the course of the disease friction to the limbs is useful, and in the advanced paralytic stage the application of electricity along the line of the affected muscles. When the patient can not stand he must have a thick, soft bed, and should be turned from side to side at least every twelve hours. As soon as he can be made to stand he may be helped up and even supported in a sling.

Source: Diseases of the Horse

The treatment of the mild cases may consist in a laxative

Treatment. The treatment of the mild cases may consist in a laxative, graduated daily exercise, and a daily dose of saltpeter (1 ounce). Sudden attacks will sometimes promptly subside if taken on the instant and the subject kept still and calmed by a dose of bromid of potassium (4 drams) and sweet spirits of niter (1 ounce). The latter has the advantage of increasing the secretion of the kidneys. Iodid of potassium in one-half ounce doses every four hours has succeeded well in some hands. In severe cases, as a rule, it is desirable to begin treatment by a dose of aloes (4 to 6 drams) with the above-named dose of bromid of potassium, and this latter may be continued at intervals of four or six hours, as may be requisite to calm the nervous excitement. Fomentations with warm water over the loins are always useful in calming the excitable conditions of the spinal cord, muscles, liver, and kidneys, and also in favoring secretion from the two latter. On the second day diuretics may be resorted to, such as saltpeter one-half ounce, and powdered colchicum, one-half dram, to be repeated twice daily. A laxative may be repeated in three or four days should the bowels seem to demand it, and as the nervous excitement disappears any remaining muscular weakness or paralysis may be treated by one-half dram doses of nux vomica twice a day and a stimulating liniment (aqua ammonia and sweet oil in equal proportions) rubbed on the torpid muscles.

Source: Diseases of the Horse

Beginning with a short walk and increasing day by day

Prevention. The prevention of this serious affection lies in restricting the diet and giving daily exercise when the animal is not at work. A horse that has had one attack should never be left idle for a single day in the stall or barnyard. When a horse has been condemned to absolute repose on good feeding he may have a laxative (one-half to 1 pound Glauber's salt), and have graduated exercise, beginning with a short walk and increasing day by day.

Source: Diseases of the Horse

It may end fatally in a few hours or days

It may end fatally in a few hours or days, or a recovery may ensue, which is usually more speedy and perfect if it has set in at an early stage. In the late and tardy recoveries a partial paralysis of the hind limbs may last for months. A frequent sequel of these tardy cases is an extensive wasting of the muscles leading up from the front of the stifle (those supplied by the crural nerve) and a complete inability to stand.

Source: Diseases of the Horse

And paraplegia in experimental animals

Lignières has found in hemoglobinuria a streptococcus which produced nephritis, bloody urine, and paraplegia in experimental animals, including horses.

Symptoms. In the milder forms this affection may appear as a lameness in one limb, from indefinite cause, succeeding to some sudden exertion and attended by a dusky-brown color of the membranes of the eye and nose and some wincing when the last ribs are struck. The severe forms come on after one or two days of rest on a full ration, when the animal has been taken out and driven one hundred paces or more: The fire and life with which he had left the stable suddenly give place to dullness and oppression, as shown in heaving flanks, dilated nostrils, pinched face, perspiring skin, and trembling body. The muscles of the loins or haunch become swelled and rigid, the subject moves stiffly or unsteadily, crouches behind, the limbs being carried semiflexed, and he soon drops, unable to support himself. When down, the body and limbs are moved convulsively, but there is no power of coordination of movement in the muscles. The pulse and breathing are accelerated, the eyes red with a tinge of brown, and the urine, if passed, is seen to be highly colored, dark brown, red, or black, but it contains neither blood clots nor globules. The color is mainly due to hemoglobin and other imperfectly elaborated constituents of the blood.

Source: Diseases of the Horse

Hemoglobinuria (Azoturia, Azotemia, Poisoning by Albuminoids).

Like diabetes, this is rather a disease of the liver and blood-forming functions than of the kidney, but as prominent symptoms are loss of control over the hind limbs and the passage of ropy and dark-colored urine, the vulgar idea is that it is a disorder of the urinary organs. It is a complex affection directly connected with a plethora in the blood of nitrogenized constituents, with extreme nervous and muscular disorder and the excretion of a dense reddish or brownish urine. It is directly connected with high feeding, especially on highly nitrogenized feed (oats, beans, peas, vetches, cottonseed meal), and with a period of idleness in the stall under full rations. The disease is never seen at pasture, rarely under constant daily work, even though the feeding is high, and the attack is usually precipitated by taking the horse from the stable and subjecting it to exercise or work. The poisoning is not present when taken from the stable, as the horse is likely to be noticeably lively and spirited, but he will usually succumb under the first hundred yards or half mile of exercise. It seems as if the aspiratory power of the chest under the sudden exertion and accelerated breathing speedily drew from the gorged liver and abdominal veins (portal) the accumulated store of nitrogenous matter in an imperfectly oxidized or elaborated condition, and as if the blood, surcharged with these materials, were unable to maintain the healthy functions of the nerve centers and muscles. It has been noticed rather more frequently in mares than horses, attributable, perhaps, to the nervous excitement attendant on heat, and to the fact that the unmutilated mare is naturally more excitable than the docile gelding.

Source: Diseases of the Horse

The disease being mainly due to direct injury

Treatment. The disease being mainly due to direct injury, treatment will consist, first, in removing such cause whenever possible, and then in applying general and local styptics. Irritants in feed must be avoided, sprains appropriately treated, and stone in bladder or urethra removed. Then give mucilaginous drinks (slippery elm, linseed tea) freely, and styptics (tincture of chlorid of iron 3 drams, acetate of lead one-half dram, tannic acid one-half dram, or oil of turpentine 1 ounce). If the discharge is abundant, apply cold water to the loins and keep the animal perfectly still.

Source: Diseases of the Horse

Its condition may furnish some indication as to its source

The blood may be present in small clots or in more or less intimate admixture with the urine. Its condition may furnish some indication as to its source; thus, if from the kidneys it is more liable to be uniformly diffused through the urine, while as furnished by the bladder or passages clots are more liable to be present. Again, in bleeding from the kidney, minute, cylindrical clots inclosing blood globules and formed in the uriniferous tubes can be detected under the microscope. Precision also may be approximated by observing whether there is coexisting fracture, sprain of the loins, or stone or tumor in the bladder or urethra.

Source: Diseases of the Horse

Hematuria (Bloody Urine).

Cause. As seen in the horse, bloody urine is usually the direct result of mechanical injuries, as sprains and fractures of the loins, lacerations of the sublumbar muscles (psoas), irritation caused by stone in the kidney, ureter, bladder, or urethra. It may, however, occur with acute congestion of the kidney, with tumors in its substance, or with papilloma or other diseased growth in the bladder. Acrid diuretic plants present in the feed may also lead to the escape of blood from the kidney. The predisposition to this affection is, however, incomparably less than in the case of the ox or the sheep, the difference being attributed to the greater plasticity of the horse's blood in connection with the larger quantity of fibrin.

Source: Diseases of the Horse

Dropsies in the limbs and under the chest and belly

In advanced diabetes, dropsies in the limbs and under the chest and belly, puffy, swollen eyelids, cataracts, catarrhal inflammation of the lungs, weak, uncertain gait, and drowsiness may be noted.

Treatment is most satisfactory in cases dependent on some curable disease of liver, pancreas, lungs, or brain. Thus, in liver diseases, a run at pasture in warm weather, or in winter a warm, sunny, well-aired stable, with sufficient clothing and laxatives (sulphate of soda, 1 ounce daily) and alkalies (carbonate of potassium, one-fourth ounce) may benefit. To this may be added mild blistering, cupping, or even leeching over the last ribs. Diseases of the brain or pancreas may be treated according to their indications. The diet should be mainly albuminous, such as wheat bran or middlings, peas, beans, vetches, and milk. Indeed, an exclusive milk diet is one of the very best remedial agencies. It may be given as skimmed milk or butter-milk, and in the last case combines an antidiabetic remedy in the lactic acid. Under such an exclusive diet recent and mild cases are often entirely restored, though at the expense of an attack of rheumatism. Codeia, one of the alkaloids of opium, is strongly recommended by Tyson. The dose for the horse would be 10 to 15 grains thrice daily. In cases in which there is manifest irritation of the brain, bromid of potassium, 4 drams, or ergot one-half ounce, may be resorted to. Salicylic acid and salicylate of sodium have proved useful in certain cases; also phosphate of sodium. Bitter tonics (especially nux vomica one-half dram) are useful in improving the digestion and general health.

Source: Diseases of the Horse

Frequently present in the horse s urine

Inosite, or muscle sugar, frequently present in the horse's urine, and even replacing the glucose, is not fermentable. Its presence may be indicated by its sweetness and the absence of fermentation or by Gallois's test. Evaporate the suspected urine at a gentle heat almost to dryness, then add a drop of a solution of mercuric nitrate and evaporate carefully to dryness, when a yellowish residue is left that is changed on further cautious heating to a deep rose color, which disappears on cooling and reappears on heating.

Source: Diseases of the Horse