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Hepatobiliary disease was diagnosed in eight of 34 genetically unrelated cohabitating pet ferrets (Mustela putorios furo) during a 7-year period. The eight ferrets ranged in age from 5 to 8 years and exhibited chronic cholangiohepatitis coupled with cellular proliferation ranging from hyperplasia to frank neoplasia. Spiral-shaped argyrophilic bacteria were demonstrated in livers of three ferrets, including two with carcinoma. Sequence analysis of a 400-base pair polymerase chain reaction product amplified from DNA derived from fecal bacteria from one ferret demonstrated 98% and 97% similarity to Helicobacter cholecystus and Helicobacter sp. strain 266-1 , respectively. The clustering of severe hepatic disease in these cohabitating ferroes suggests a possible infectious etiology. The role of Helicobacter species and other bacteria in hepatitis and/or neoplasia in ferrets requires further study.

Published surveys of feline neoplasia have not specifically included biliary cystadenoma, and there is only one case report in the literature. This report is a compilation of 13 feline cases and provides a description of clinical, pathologic, immunohistochemical, and ultrastructural aspects of biliary cystadenoma as well as a discussion of comparative pathology of biliary cystadenoma in human beings and speculative histogenesis.

From 1964 to 1973, 370 tumors were collected from cows of unknown age. Ten (2.7%) of these were primary thyroid tumors. Three were malignant. The benign tumors were solitary encapsulated adenomas in the parenchyma with more or less defined trabeculae, tubular, and microfollicular pattern. One of the malignant tumors was a cystic papillary adenocarcinoma, and two were small cell carcinomas consisting of small, sometimes binuclear, pleomorphic cells.