Causes: infection, toxins, etc., irritant diuretics, chills, moulting, swill. Lesions: cortical kidney congestion, red to black, softening friability; urine limpid to red, with blood globules, albumen, and crystals. Symptoms: chill, tender loins, colic, straining, recovery in four days. Diagnosis: from hæmoglobinuria, cystitis, calculus. Prevention: diet, etc. Treatment: laxatives, flax seed, wet compresses, bromides, camphor, disinfectants, bitters.
Causes. In cattle this malady is largely traceable to the same causes as in the horse, and is very often but a complication of some other affection. The renal congestion of infectious diseases is seen in the advanced stages of lung plague, in anthrax, in malignant catarrh, in hæmoglobinæmia, and implies an accumulation of irritant toxins in the system. The abuse of diuretics, the ingestion of acrid diuretic plants, including the early shoots of the coniferæ, the introduction through any channel of cantharides or potato beetles, the drinking of stagnant water charged with deleterious fermentation products, the consumption of musty or spoiled fodder, and the sudden change to the succulent grasses of spring, operate as in the horse. So it is with cutaneous chills, cold stone floors, cold wet storms, draughts and dropping from a leaky roof. The shedding of the coat in spring is an undoubted predisposing cause.
Cattle in the swill stables of breweries and distilleries are the subjects of a constant renal congestion and polyuria, which, however, does not prevent rapid fattening. This diet, however, unfits the animal for a future vigorous life, and any concurrent injurious influence may easily bring on active kidney disease.
Lesions. There is redness and swelling of the kidney, it may be to two or three times its normal size, the enlargement being especially referable to the cortical portion, which may be mottled in different shades of red up to black extravasations. The lack of firmness in its connection with its sheath, and the softening and friability of the parenchyma resemble the same conditions in the horse. The urine may be clear or more or less tinged with blood, and contains blood globules, albumen, and crystals of carbonate of lime and urate of ammonia, which seem to indicate the presence of a bacterial ferment.
Symptoms. The patient usually shows some indication of chill, with staring coat and arched back, which is very sensitive to pinching. There is impairment of rumination and appetite, decrease of milk in dairy cows, uneasy movements of the hind limbs and tail, frequent straining to urinate, and the passage of urine often in small amount and sometimes of a pink or reddish tinge. In bad cases this may become deep red, or black, and the pulse becomes weak, with palpitations, marked muscular weakness and a tendency to lie down most of the time.
With early improvement recovery may be complete in from four to six days. In the more severe and fatal cases death may occur as early as the sixth day. Unless under the influence of violent irritants or a persistence of the original poison the prognosis is favorable.
Diagnosis. It is especially important to distinguish this from hæmoglobinæmia, which shows an uniform red or brown discoloration of the urine and an entire absence of blood globules as such. In congestion the reddish material tends to precipitate and is found to consist largely of blood globules. It is further associated with albuminuria.
Hæmorrhagic cystitis and cystic calculi are both chronic affections, and identified on rectal exploration by the tenderness of the bladder and the presence of the stone.
Prevention consists in the avoidance of the various causative factors, and especially those that find access among alimentary matters. Cattle turned out in early spring should be fed before going and should be returned from the pasture in an hour or two. This repeated day by day, allows the digestive and urinary organs to accommodate themselves to the fresh spring grass and to any vegetation to which the animals have not been accustomed. Chills, draughts, injuries and other disturbing conditions must be guarded against.
Treatment. Bleeding is strongly recommended by Cruzel and Cadeac. In Germany, England and America derivation toward the digestive organs is more generally relied on. Laxatives should be, as in the horse, oleaginous (castor, olive, linseed) or manna, rather than agents that may perchance act on the kidneys. Free purgation should be secured. Flaxseed tea, and wet compresses over the loins are valuable adjuncts, and anodyne agents like camphor, bromide of camphor, or other bromides may be added, and when there is any suspicion of infection, salicylates, or iodide of potassium may be employed. Finally a course of bitters (salicin, quinine, nux,) may be employed to restore tone and iron carbonate with sodium carbonate as a reconstructive tonic. The diet must be changed to wholesome food, but not too stimulating, and the animal kept quiet.