This full color illustration depicts the male goat and the common clinical condition of urolithiasis. Male goats – particularly castrated males – are prone to developing urinary calculi when on improper diets consisting of high concentrates and low roughage. These calculi can lodge in several areas of the urinary tract, including the urethral process, sigmoid flexure of the urethra, and the urinary bladder, causing pain, inflammation, and often, life-threatening urethral obstruction.
