Tara:
 
>My darling Bruiser has a swollen face today.No pain,hard as a bone.It's
>under his eye to the front of his ear.Strangest thing.It's kinda like his
>jaw bone swelled.Not soft.We can pet his head where this is,and he just
>yawns (so mama can check his teeth!!!  Teeth look great!) HELP!!  It just
>"appeared" today!  NO pain at all......
 
Im surprised - no picture?  I would expect a conspicuous consumer and
leader of "Frolicking Ferrets" to have a digital camera by now!
 
Actually a picture would really help here - this is a tough one to diagnose
by description only.  Possibilities (rank-ordered): ruptured salivary duct
and sialocele formation, tooth root abscess, bony tumor (rare).  Sialoceles
arise quickly and are usually not as hard as bone.
 
When you check out your new vet - probably wouldn't hurt to have him
aspirate this growth (if it's still there and see if he can draw anything
out.  Sialoceles are usually filled with a thick viscuos fluid.  If not,
and it doesn't go down over time, then we'll probably need to biopsy it.
 
With kindest regards,
Bruce Williams, DVM
[Posted in FML issue 3290]