surrounding the orifice of the sheath,
the occurrence of dropsies in the limbs under the chest or belly, or in
either of these cavities, and finally the appearance of nervous stupor, may
indicate serious disorder of the urinary organs. The condition of the urine
passed may likewise lead to suspicion. It may be white, from crystallized
carbonate of lime; brown, red, or even black, from the presence of blood or
blood-coloring matter; yellow, from biliary coloring matter; frothy, from
contained albumin; cloudy, from phosphates; glairy, from pus; it may also
show gritty masses from gravel. In many cases of urinary disorder in the
ox, however, the symptoms are by no means prominent, and unless special
examination is made of the loins, the bladder, and the urine the true
nature of the malady may be overlooked.

DIURESIS (POLYURIA, DIABETES INSIPIDUS, EXCESSIVE SECRETION OF URINE).

A secretion of urine in excess of the normal amount may be looked on as
disease, even if the result does not lead to immediate loss of condition.
Cattle fed on distillery swill are striking examples of such excess caused
by the enormous consumption of a liquid feed, which nourishes and fattens
in spite of the diuresis; the condition is unwholesome, and cattle that
have passed four or five months in a swill stable have fatty livers and
kidneys, and never again do well on ordinary feed. Diuresis may further
occur from increase of blood pressure in the kidneys (diseases of the heart
or lungs which hinder the onward passage of the blood, the eating of
digitalis, English broom, the contraction of the blood vessels on the
surface of the body in cold weather, etc.); also from acrid or diuretic
plants taken with the feed (dandelion, burdock, colchicum, digitalis,
savin, resinous shoots, etc.); from excess of sugar in the feed (beets,
turnips, ripe sorghum); also from the use of frozen feed (frosted turnip
tops and other vegetables), and from the growths of certain molds in fodder
(musty hay, mow-burnt hay, moldy oats, moldy bread, etc.). Finally,
alkaline waters and alkaline incrustations on the soil may be active
causes. In some of these cases the result is beneficial rather than
injurious, as when cattle affected with gravel in the kidneys are entirely
freed from this condition by a run at grass, or by an exclusive diet of
roots or swill. In other cases, however, the health and condition suffer,
and even inflammation of the kidneys may occur.

_Treat