Solving a sticky situation
How to unglue a hamster.
When staff members at Brook-Falls Veterinary Hospital & Exotic Care Inc. met Mel, a 4-month-old teddy bear hamster, they felt an instant bond-literally. That's because Mel had escaped his cage only to become caught in a glue trap. His owners freed him from the trap but couldn't remove the gooey residue from his body. Working from the trap manufacturer's recommendation for glue removal, Lynne Stouffer, practice manager, tried rubbing mineral oil on Mel. “It didn't provide any relief,” Stouffer says, “but it did make him very slippery.”
Luckily, Stouffer recalled a tip to use Avon's Skin-So-Soft lotion as a residue remover and Holly Bennett, CVT, implored her husband to bring a bottle to the hospital. After an hour-long massage and a gentle bath, Stouffer and Bennett dissolved all the glue and sent Mel home to two happy little boys.
