When staff at the Humane Society of North Texas first saw Elmer, a scared little kitten saturated in industrial-strength glue, they didn't know if he would survive the night. A passerby had found the 4-month-old kitten in a bucket of glue near an industrial area and brought him to the shelter in Fort Worth, Tex., in mid-April. The glue was covering the kitten’s head, ears, mouth and nose, making it a fight against time as staff scrambled to remove the blue before it hardened around his tiny chest or blocked his ability to breathe. After around-the-clock care, the little kitten — named Elmer for the glue brand — was finally free. Dish soap, mineral oil, and bandage removal spray all failed to remove the glue, but then the staff discovered that canola oil did the trick. The staff spent six hours intermittently massaging Elmer with oil, washing him off in warm baths, and feeding him with a syringe. A staff member took Elmer home at the end of her shift to continue the treatment over night, and the next morning staff worked on him again for eight hours straight. Leah Owens (pictured below) read about Elmer in the newspaper and volunteered to foster him until he was ready to be adopted. It didn’t take the 72-year-old long to realize that she wanted to keep Elmer for good. Owens, who lost her husband to multiple myeloma in October, says Elmer brought a much needed spark of joy to her life. When Owens brought Elmer back to the Humane Society to have him neutered, she learned they had set up a special email to field his hundreds of adoption applications. If she wanted to keep him, she would have to apply. She did just that and was finally able to officially adopt little Elmer. Owens says he seems unfazed. "He’s fearless, playful, affectionate, and like all kittens, a little mischievous."
