Black Water, RED WATER, MUIR-ILL, or HEMO-ALBUMINURIA, is a dietetic disease of cattle, which is diagnosed by the following symptoms: Loss of condition, loss of appetite, obstinate constipation, dicotonous and weak pulse, yellow mucous membranes, staring dry coat, and frequent passage of urine of a red-brown or almost black colour, and having a strong odour of rotten turnips. It is a rapidly fatal disease, and most frequently seen in ill-fed animals, or animals grazing on badly drained, poorly cultivated land. The cause of the disease is a want of proportion in the quantity and quality of the food, and particularly in a lack of albuminoids, and an increase in the watery constituents. The result of this bad food is to cause indigestion and constipation, which are then followed by a breaking down of the blood constituents, and elimination of the broken-down blood by the kidneys, the consequence being that the animal really succumbs from loss of blood or blood constituents. Examination of the urine reveals the presence of albumen, and also blood and bile pigments. Its specific gravity is increased to about 1040. On post-mortem examination, one finds great pallor and wasting of the tissues and organs, emptiness of the blood-vessels, dark-coloured urine in the bladder, engorgement of the liver, and distension of the gall-bladder with thick bile, and generally the appearance of bloodlessness.
The disease should be guarded against by draining the land, growing good grasses and turnips, and feeding the animals with food containing sufficient albuminoids. When animals become affected, administer a quart of oil, to remove any bad food from the stomach and bowels, and follow with twelve eggs and a quart of good ale night and morning, and warm clothing, linseed and cotton cake, port wine, drachm doses of sulphate of iron, or ounce doses of turpentine. A special form of this disease occurs in parturient cattle, which exhibits the same symptoms, but is induced in weak animals by parturition, and manifests itself a week or so after parturition.