Swollen face

[AliceA]

Hi everyone! first post here. Meet Onyx, he is 20 months old and lives alongside his 3 brothers. A couple of days ago I noticed his nose was a smidge red and then this morning he has woken up with a big swelling on one side of his face that is causing his eye to be slightly squinted. There doesn't seem to be an open wound, it's not sore to touch and he's still eating and drinking as normal and no change to his behaviour. Now he does like to get into scraps with his brothers - do we think this could just be from an argument or is it something more serious...? I appreciate they're getting older so age isn't on his side but as of yet all 4 of my Boys have lived such a happy and healthy life... Thanks in advance, Alice.

 

[Kye]

This is kind of funny in a not so amusing way, as I was headed to bed last night I noticed swelling on my girl too and this morning she blew up like a balloon, I have a vet appointment but I suspect it's a tooth abscess for me, what I've done is given soft food(soaked their normal food to mush) because my gal was wincing trying to eat and I've given her Metacam for pain. In your case it could be the same thing as what I have going on but I'm a little useless for helping medicate, I can tell you tomorrow whats the culprit for mine if you'd like though.! In my opinion the most likely is a tooth abscess so soft food is a very good idea.
Sorry if I rambled or it's a bit jumbled, I'm in a little bit of a rush atm.!

 

[AliceA]

This is kind of funny in a not so amusing way, as I was headed to bed last night I noticed swelling on my girl too and this morning she blew up like a balloon, I have a vet appointment but I suspect it's a tooth abscess for me, what I've done is given soft food(soaked their normal food to mush) because my gal was wincing trying to eat and I've given her Metacam for pain. In your case it could be the same thing as what I have going on but I'm a little useless for helping medicate, I can tell you tomorrow whats the culprit for mine if you'd like though.! In my opinion the most likely is a tooth abscess so soft food is a very good idea.
Sorry if I rambled or it's a bit jumbled, I'm in a little bit of a rush atm.!

Thanks for replying, Kye. He seems OK eating and doesn't seem in any pain - and is getting lots of extra love from me (naturally!) but I will definitely keep an eye on it. I'm wondering maybe if he's fallen and hurt himself somehow.... But yes please do update! I hope she's OK.

 

[Kye]

Awh thank you but back to your little man. I wouldn't rule out him hurting himself of course, if he seems to be acting normal with no signs of pain I might just watch him, make sure it doesn't get bigger and if it does you might want to take him to the vet for some antibiotics, since it showed up relatively quick I wouldn't think it's a tumor but with rats you just never can tell.. It doesn't look like the right area but you might want to do some research on zymbal's gland tumors so you can watch out on the off chance that it is this(again, I doubt it because of the location)

 

[AliceA]

Awh thank you but back to your little man. I wouldn't rule out him hurting himself of course, if he seems to be acting normal with no signs of pain I might just watch him, make sure it doesn't get bigger and if it does you might want to take him to the vet for some antibiotics, since it showed up relatively quick I wouldn't think it's a tumor but with rats you just never can tell.. It doesn't look like the right area but you might want to do some research on zymbal's gland tumors so you can watch out on the off chance that it is this(again, I doubt it because of the location)

Sounds terrifying. I'll keep an eye on him.

 

[AliceA]

Update. - -

Swelling has gone down but he is grumpier than ever with his 3 Brothers. He is picking fights with them constantly. Not sure what to do to make them all happy...

 

[Kye]

It's good the swelling went down, he could be fighting because he's in pain, I'd give him pain medication if you haven't already and if they all seem happier with the one boy solo(including him) it might be best to separate him from the rest until this issue is resolved, just make sure you are spending a ton of time with him so he doesn't get lonely