For the past two months, my ferret Liam has had a small white pustule in his
mouth.  It's on the top right side, back where his throat starts (and is
generally only visible when he yawns).  It started out as a tiny object,
looking like a small sore, and grew to about 1.5mm in diameter (estimate,
obvious.  Calipers won't fit in his mouth.  :) The object was off-white in
colour, and fairly flat at the surface.
 
It remained at about 1.5mm until about a week ago.  Before this, my vet
wasn't too worried about it as it wasn't changing, and he would prefer not
to touch it due to its rather difficult location.  So for the past two
months I've just been keeping an eye out on it.
 
Until, as I said, a week ago.  It has grown in size, and has been
accompanied by inflammation on both sides of his mouth (in the soft tissue
right behind his molars, on the sides).  The pustule is now more rounded,
and about 2mm or 2.5mm in diameter.  The colour also changed from off-white
to off-white with a reddish tinge (in fact, it looked like a number of
capillaries in a membrane covering the pustule).  It is now a
yellowish-white colour.  Both sides of his mouth remain swollen.  My vet
described everything as (I hope I'm getting this right) "bilateral faucitis
accompanied by a pustule".  As my vet has only limited experience with
ferrets, he has referred me to a friend of his who deals primarily in exotic
animals, and has much more experience.
 
Since I can't get to see this vet until Wednesday though, I though I would
post to the list and ask for opinions.  Any ideas?  I should also note that
the inflammation started around the same time that I took Liam outside to
really enjoy the summer weather which has decided to grace the Toronto area
(finally).  Is it possible that his rooting around in the soil outside (just
in my front yard) could be the cause?  Even if this is the cause, the
pustule has still been there much longer, so I'm still wondering about that.
 
Bryan Archell
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[Posted in FML issue 1582]