As in the case of other mammals, this nitrogenous waste matt_Special report on diseases of cattle

present in the urine of cattle in the form of urea, but also, to some

extent, as hippuric acid, a derivative of vegetable food which, in the

herbivora, replaces the uric acid found in the urine of man and carnivora.

Uric acid is, however, found in the urine of sucking calves which have

practically an animal diet, and it may also appear in the adult in case of

absolute, prolonged starvation, and in diseases attended with complete loss

of appetite and rapid wasting of the body. In such cases the animal lives

on its own substance, and the product is that of the wasting flesh.

The other products containing nitrogen are present in only small quantities

and need not be specially referred to. The urine of cattle contains much

less of carbonates than that of the horse, and effervesces less on the

addition of an acid. As the carbonates form a large proportion of the solid

deposits (gravel, stone) from the horse's urine, the ox may thus be held

less liable, yet even in the ox the carbonates become abundant or scanty,

according to the nature of the feed, and therefore gravel, formed by

carbonate of lime, is not infrequent in cattle. When fed on beets, clover

hay, or bean straw carbonates are present in large quantities, these

aliments being rich in organic acids and alkaline carbonates; whereas upon

oat straw, barley straw, and, above all, wheat straw, they are in small

amount. In calves fed on milk alone no carbonates are found in the urine.

Phosphates, usually in combination with lime, are, as a rule, present only

in traces in the urine of cattle; however, on a dietary of wheat, bran, or

other aliment rich in phosphates, these may be present in large amount, so

that they render the liquid cloudy or are deposited in solid crystals. The

liquid is rendered transparent by nitric acid.

The cow's urine, on a diet of hay and potatoes, contained:

Parts.

Urea 18.5

Potassic hippurate 16.5

Alkaline lactates 17.2

Potassium bicarbonate 16.1

Magnesium carbonate 4.7

Lime carbonate 0.6

Potassium sulphate 3.6

Common salt 1.5

Silica Trace

Phosphates 0.0

Water and undetermined substances 921.3

_______

Total 1,000.0

The following table after Tereg[1] gives the different conditions of the

urine, and especially the amount of urea and hippuric acid under different

rations. The subjects were two oxen, weighing, respectively, 1,260 pounds

and 1,060 pounds:

--------------+------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------+-----+-----+----

Food per day.|Water.

(pounds) | |Urine

| |Passed.

| | |Density.

| | | |Solids

| | | |in urine.

| | | | | | | | | |Hip-

| | | | | | | | | |per

--------------+------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----

|_Lbs._|_Lbs_| |_Pct_|_Pct_|_Pct_|_Pct_|_Pct_|_Ozs_|_Ozs_

straw, and | 46.46| 7.40|1,036| 8.41| 2.66| 1.33| 0.83| 0.94| 1.63|3.23

| | | | | | | | | |

14.70 oat | | | | | | | | | |

straw, and | 61.10|15.26|1,039| 6.93| 2.09| 0.84| 0.55| 0.49| 2.2 |5.3

| | | | | | | | | |

straw, 10.4 | 71.76|12.36|1,043| 8.05| 0.95| 1.85| 0.93| 0.94| 3.83|1.96

| | | | | | | | | |

straw, 10.4 | 80.54|12.46|1,044| 8.29| 8.07| 2.41| 1.19| 1.11| 5.8 |2.1

| | | | | | | | | |

straw, 10.4 | 78.96|17.62|1,043| 8.41| 0.74| 3.12| 1.45| 1.24| 9.17|2.17

| | | | | | | | | |

straw, 10 |110.12|25.86|1,038| 7.00| 0.31| 2.49| 1.19| 1.25|10.9 |1.33

| | | | | | | | | |

straw, 10 |101.80|27.04|1,037| 7.14| 0.20| 2.95| 1.39| 1.58|13.3 |0.9

| | | | | | | | | |

straw, 10 |119.00|23.20|1,038| 7.74| 0.21| 4.06| 1.91| 1.69|15.4 |0.8

| | | | | | | | | |

straw, and | 54.84|12.60|1,043| 7.06| 0.40| 2.53| 1.21| 1.15| 5.3 |0.83

| | | | | | | | | |

straw | 55.76|16.34|1,036| 5.45| 0.11| 1.41| 0.67| 0.64| 3.83|0.3

| | | | | | | | | |

hay | 36.26|15.14|1,042| 7.91| 1.30| 1.73| 0.91| 0.92| 4.37|3.3

--------------+------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----

The varying quantity of urea (from 1.6 to 15.4 ounces) is most suggestive

as to the action of the more or less nitrogenous feed and the resulting

concentration of the urine and blood. Hippuric acid, on the other hand, is

most abundant when the animal is fed on hay and straw.

The specific gravity of the urine of cattle varies from 1,030 to 1,060 in

health, water being 1,000. It is transparent, with a yellowish tinge, and

has a characteristic, musky smell. The chemical reaction is alkaline,

turning red litmus paper blue. The quantity passed in twenty-four hours

varies greatly, increasing not only with the water drunk, but with the

albuminoids taken in with the feed and the urea produced. If a solution of

urea is injected into the veins the secretion of urine is greatly

augmented. Similarly the excess of salts like carbonate of potash in the

feed, or of sugar, increases the action of the kidneys. Only about 20 per

cent of the water swallowed escapes in the urine, the remaining 80 per cent

passing mostly from the lungs, and to a slight extent by the bowels. The

skin of the ox does not perspire so readily nor so freely as that of the

horse; hence the kidneys and lungs are called upon for extra work. The

influence of an excess of water in the feed is most remarkable in swill-fed

distillery cattle, which urinate profusely and frequently, yet thrive and

fatten rapidly.

Among the other conditions that increase the flow of urine is overfilling

of (internal pressure in) the blood vessels of the kidneys; hence the

contraction of the blood vessels of the skin by cold drives the blood

inward, tends to dilate the blood vessels of the kidneys, and to increase

the secretion of urine. Nervous disorders, such as excitement, fear,

congestions, or structural injuries to the back part of the base of the

brain, have a similar result, hence, doubtless, the action of certain fungi

growing in musty hay or oats in producing profuse flow of urine, whereas

other forms of musty fodder cause stupor, delirium, or paralysis. Bacteria

and their products are mainly expelled by the kidneys, and become sources

of local infection, irritation, and disease.

The quantity of urine passed daily by an ox on dry feeding averages 7 to 12

pints, but this may be increased enormously on a watery diet.

The mutual influence of the kidneys and other important organs tends to

explain the way in which disease in one part supervenes on preexisting

disorder in another. The introduction of albuminoids in excess into the

blood means the formation of an excess of urea, and a more profuse

secretion of urine, of a higher specific gravity, and with a greater

tendency to deposit its solid constituents, as gravel, in the kidneys or

bladder. A torpid action of the liver, leaving the albuminoids in

transition forms, less soluble than the urea into which they should have

been changed, favors the onset of rheumatism or of nervous disorder, the

deposit of such albuminoid products in the kidneys, the formation of a

deep-brown or reddish urine, and congestion of the kidneys. Any abnormal

activity of the liver in the production of sugar--more than can be burned

up in the circulation--overstimulates the kidneys and produces increased

flow of a heavy urine with a sweetish taste. This increased production of

sugar may be primarily due to disease of the brain, which, in its turn,

determines the disorder of the liver. Disease of the right side of the

heart or of the lungs, by obstructing the onward flow of blood from the

veins, increases the blood pressure in the kidneys and produces disorder

and excessive secretion. Inactivity of the kidneys determines an increase

in the blood of waste products, which become irritating to different parts,

producing skin eruptions, itching, dropsies, and nervous disorders. Sprains

of the loins produce bleeding from the kidneys and disease of the spinal

cord, and sometimes determine albuminous or milky looking urine.

The kidney of the ox (Pl. IX, fig. 1) is a compound organ made up of 15 to

25 separate lobules like so many separate kidneys, but all pouring their

secretion into one common pouch (pelvis) situated in an excavation in the

center of the lower surface. While the ox is the only domesticated

quadruped which maintains this divided condition of the kidney after birth,

this condition is common to all while at an early stage of development in

the womb. The cluster of lobules making up a single kidney forms an ovoid

mass flattened from above downward, and extending from the last rib

backward beneath the loins and to one side of the solid chain of the

backbone. The right is more firmly attached to the loins and extends

farther backward than the left. Deeply covered in a mass of suet, each

kidney has a strong outer, white, fibrous covering, and inside this two

successive layers of kidney substance, of which the outer is that in which

the urine is mainly separated from the blood and poured into the fine,

microscopic urinary ducts. (Pl. X, fig. 1) These latter, together with

blood vessels, lymph vessels, and nerves, make up the second, or internal,

layer. The outer layer is mainly composed of minute globular clusters of

microscopic, intercommunicating blood vessels (Malpighian bodies), each of

which is furnished with a fibrous capsule that is nothing else than the

dilated commencement of a urine tube. These practically microscopic tubes

follow at first a winding course through the outer layer (Ferrein's tubes),

then form a long loop (doubling on itself) in the inner layer (Henle's

loop), and finally pass back through the inner layer (Bellini's tubes) to

open through a conical process into the common pouch (pelvis) on the lower

surface of the organ. (Pl. X, figs. 1, 2, 3.)

The tube that conveys the urine from the kidney to the bladder is like a

white, round cord, about the size of a goose quill, prolonged from the

pouch on the lower surface of the kidney backward beneath the loins, then

inward, supported by a fold of thin membrane, to open into the bladder just

in front of its neck. The canal passes first through the middle (muscular)

coat of the bladder, and then advances perceptibly between that and the

internal (mucous) coat, through which it finally opens. By this arrangement

in overfilling the bladder this opening is closed like a valve by the

pressure of the urine, and the return of liquid to the kidney is prevented.

The bladder (Pl. IX, fig. 2) is a dilatable, egg-shaped pouch, closed

behind by a strong ring of muscular fibers encircling its neck, and

enveloped by looped, muscular fibers extending on all sides around its body

and closed anterior end. Stimulated by the presence of urine, these last

contract and expel contents through the neck into the urethra. This last is

the tube leading backward along the floor of the pelvic bones and downward

through the penis. In the bull this canal of the urethra is remarkable for

its small caliber and for the S-shaped bend which it describes in the space

between the thighs and just above the scrotum. This bend is attributable to

the fact that the retractor muscles are attached to the penis at this

point, and in withdrawing that organ within its sheath they double it upon

itself. The small size of the canal and this S-shaped bend are serious

obstacles to the passing of a catheter to draw the urine, yet by extending

the penis out of its sheath the bend is effaced, and a small, gum-elastic

catheter, not more than one-fourth of an inch in diameter, may with care be

passed into the bladder. In the cow the urethra is very short, opening in

the median line on the floor of the vulva about 4 inches in front of its

external orifice. Even in her, however, the passing of a catheter is a

matter of no little difficulty, the opening of the urethra being very

narrow and encircled by the projecting membranous and rigid margins, and on

each side of the opening is a blind pouch (canal of G‰rtner) into which the

catheter will almost invariably find its way. In both male and female,

therefore, the passing of a catheter is an operation which demands special

skill.

_General symptoms of urinary disorders._--These are not so prominent in

cattle as in horses, yet they are of a similar kind. There is a stiff or

straddling gait with the hind legs and some difficulty in turning or in

lying down and rising, the act causing a groan. The frequent passage of

urine in driblets, its continuous escape in drops, the sudden arrest of the

flow when in full stream, the rhythmic contraction of the muscles under the

anus without any flow resulting, the swelling of the sheath, the collection

of hard, gritty masses on the hair 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.

_Treatment._--The treatment is mainly in the change of diet to a more solid

aliment destitute of the special, offensive ingredient. Boiled flaxseed is

often the best diet or addition to the wholesome dry food, and, by way of

medicine, doses of 2 drams each of sulphate of iron and iodid of potassium

may be given twice daily. In obstinate cases 2 drams ergot of rye or of

catechu may be added.

BLOODY URINE (RED WATER, MOOR ILL, WOOD ILL, HEMATURIA, HEMAGLOBINURIA).

This is a common affection among cattle in certain localities, above all on

damp, undrained lands and under a backward agriculture. It is simply bloody

urine or hematuria when the blood is found in clots, or when under the

microscope the blood globules can be detected as distinctly rounded,

flattened disks. It is smoky urine--hemaglobinuria--when neither such

distinct clots nor blood disks can be found, but merely a general browning,

reddening, or blackening of the urine by the presence of dissolved,

blood-coloring matter. The bloody urine is the more direct result of

structural disease of the kidneys or urinary passages (inflammation, stone,

gravel, tumors, hydatids, kidney worms, sprains of the loins), while the

stained urine (hemaglobinuria) is usually the result of some general or

more distinct disorder in which the globules are destroyed in the

circulating blood and the coloring matter dissolved in and diffused through

the whole mass of the blood and of the urine secreted from it. As in the

two forms, blood and the elements of blood escape into the urine, albumin

is always present, so that there is albuminuria with blood-coloring matter

superadded. If from stone or gravel, gritty particles are usually passed,

and may be detected in the bottom of a dish in which the liquid is caught.

If from fracture or severe sprain of the loins, it is liable to be

associated not only with some loss of control of the hind limbs and with

staggering behind but also with a more or less perfect paralysis of the

tail. The bloodstained urine without red globules results from specific

diseases--Texas fever (Pl. XLVII, fig. 3), anthrax, spirillosis, and from

eating irritant plants (broom, savin, mercury, hellebore, ranunculus,

convolvulus, colchicum, oak shoots, ash privet, hazel, hornbeam, and other

astringent, acrid, or resinous plants, etc.). The Maybug or Spanish fly

taken with the feed or spread over a great extent of skin as a blister has

a similar action. Frosted turnips or other roots will bring on the

affection in some subjects. Among conditions which act by the direct

destruction of the globules in the circulating blood may be named an excess

of water in that fluid; the use of water from soils rich in decomposing

vegetable matter and containing alkaline salts, particularly nitrites; and

the presence in the water and feed of the ptomaines of bacteria growth;

hence the prevalence of "red water" in marshy districts and on clayey and

other impervious soils, and the occurrence of bloody urine in the advanced

stages of several contagious diseases. Some mineral poisons--such as iodin,

arsenic, and phosphorus taken to excess--may cause hematuria, and finally

the symptoms may be merely the result of a constitutional predisposition of

the individual or family to bleeding. In some predisposed subjects,

exposure of the body to cold or wet will cause the affection.

The specific symptom of bloody or smoky water is a very patent one. It may

or may not be associated with fever, with the presence or absence of

abdominal tenderness on pressure, with a very frothy state of the milk or

even a reddish tinge, with or without marked paleness of the mucous

membranes, and general weakness. When direct injury to the kidneys is the

immediate cause of the disease the urine will be passed often, in small

quantity at a time, and with much straining. When there is bloodlessness (a

watery blood) from insufficient nourishment, fever is absent and the red

water is at first the only symptom. When the active cause has been irritant

plants, abdominal tenderness, colics, and other signs of bowel inflammation

are marked features.

_Treatment._--Treatment varies according as the cause has been a direct

irritant operating on a subject in vigorous health or a microbian poison

acting on an animal deficient in blood and vigor. In the first form of red

water a smart purgative (1 pound to 1-1/2 pounds Glauber's salt) will clear

away the irritants from the bowels and allay the coexistent high fever. It

will also serve to divert to the bowels much of the irritant products

already absorbed into the blood and will thus protect the kidneys. In many

such cases a liberal supply of wholesome, easily digestible feed will be

all the additional treatment required. In this connection demulcent feed

(boiled flaxseed, wheat bran) is especially good. If much blood has been

lost, bitters (gentian, one-half ounce) and iron (sulphate of iron, 2

drams) should be given for a week.

For cases in which excess of diuretic plants has been taken, it may be well

to replace the salts by 1 to 2 pints of olive oil, adding 1 ounce of

laudanum and 2 drams of gum camphor; also to apply fomentations or a fresh

sheepskin over the loins. Buttermilk or vinegar, one-half pint, or

sulphuric acid, 60 drops in a pint of water, may also be used frequently as

injections. In cases caused by sprained or fractured loins, inflamed

kidneys, stone or gravel, the treatment will be as for the particular

disease in question.

In hematuria from anemia (watery blood), whether from insufficient or badly

adjusted rations or from the poisonous products of fermentations in

impervious or marshy soils, the treatment must be essentially tonic and

stimulating. Rich, abundant, and easily digestible feed must be furnished.

The different grains (oats, barley, wheat, bran, rye) and seeds (rape,

linseed, cotton seed) are especially called for and may be given either

ground or boiled. As a bitter, sulphate of quinin, one-half dram, and

tincture of chlorid of iron, 2 drams, may be given in a pint of water

thrice a day. In some cases 1 or 2 teaspoonfuls of oil of turpentine twice

daily in milk will act favorably.

In this anemic variety prevention is the great need. The drainage and

cultivation of the dangerous soils is the main object. Until this can be

accomplished young and newly purchased cattle not yet inured to the poisons

must be kept from the dangerous fields and turned on only those which are

already drained naturally or artificially. Further, they should have an

abundant ration in which the local product of grass, hay, etc., is

supplemented by grain or other seeds. Another point to be guarded against

is the supply of water that has drained from marshes or impervious soils,

rich in organic matter, as such water is charged with nitrites, ptomaines,

etc., which directly conduce to the disorder. Fence out from all such

waters and supply from living springs or deep wells only.

ALBUMIN IN THE URINE (ALBUMINURIA).

As in the case of other mammals, this nitrogenous waste matter is mainly