Bulging Left Side of Face(near nose/mouth)

[whoknew]

Ohh goodness.. this seems to have sprung up on me and i feel like a terrible rattie mom!
it's exam and major assignment time so i havn't been able to give my poor Dewy as much out time as he should be getting, considering he's a single rat and all. But tonight i took him out after dinner and immediately noticed a bulge in his face, on his left side, near his mouth. i've tried opening his mouth, but just can't- he struggles too much. he is grinding his teeth a lot it sounds like and there may be a slightly (just ever so slight) "off" odour around his mouth. i could just be imagining that though. his front teeth look fine from what i can see.. a little chipped on the top ones, but nothing major. he can also still eat crunchy foods (ran for the fiber1 flakes asap!).
i tried to snap a few pictures to show.. but he's so fidgity. excuse the poor quality.

 

[Godmother]

Poor sweetie, he may have an abscess. Any chance you could get him to a vet tomorrow if there is none available tonight? Do you have any antibiotics around?

 

[whoknew]

i don't have any antibiotics on hand..
i'm doing asearch for the closest animal hospital since i don't actually have any transportation.

there is actually a bit of a smell coming from his mouth, and i tried to sort of lift up his lip and he squealed so loud it shocked me. seems to be causing him quite some pain.

 

[Godmother]

You may have to mix up some sort of pain-reliever for him overnight. SQ's recent thread about Eve bleeding has a discussion about this. She used some Tylenol until she could get Eve's problem diagnosed by the vet.

 

[jorats]

I'm thinking abscess. And hopefully not tooth abscess. Try to do warm compresses if you can. If you have ibuprofen that might help as well.

 

[smilez_n_hugs]

I hope you can find an experienced rat vet....abscesses near the mouth can be tricky.