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]