We Need Everyone To Get Over The Tail Thing.

We are having a little issue.

What?

It's not really a little issue. It's actually a highly populous issue made up of lots of little guys. So it's a big issue with a lot of adorably quivering whiskers.

Are you talking about us?

As you know, we like to help our buddy rescues and shelters out. So when a local rescue got inundated with 300 adorable little pet ratties, of course we threw our doors open to lend a hand/paw.

And thus, like a much less dark and more hopeful version of the pied piper, the adorable little rattie muffins invaded HSSV.

Do you people have snacks here? Because we LOVE snacks. 

About 50 little rattie muffins at the moment. Many of them weren't in very good shape and needed extra medical help. All of them needed to be fixed as rats multiply faster than a super-computer.

You wanna see a cool trick where 2 of us become 20? Neither do we. 

Yes, we do fix rats. Have we mentioned how amaze-balls our vet staff is?

Anyhoo, these guys need homes and they need them fast. While we grabbed a whole bunch of the little dudes, there are still a lot of other ratties waiting for a chance to come here. Which means we need each and every one of you to get over the tail thing.

What's wrong with my tail?

Yes, the tail thing. Rats are the friendliest, smartest and most sociable of the pocket pets. They're  like pocket dogs. They learn their names. They can learn tricks and basic agility courses. They like to hang out with you and go through your pockets. In terms of pet-most-likely-to-learn-to-do-taxes, it's a rat. They're brilliant. But when we talk to people about pet rats we hear the same thing over and over again.

"It's their tails - I can't deal with them".

This guy's tail is okay but mine is a problem? 

Ok. That's just absurd. Cats have tails. Dogs have tails. Bunnies have tails. Why do these not freak people out? Is it because rat tails are hairless? Since when has being hairless been a problem? There are many things in this world that are hairless that American LOVE.

So his head doesn't freak people out but my tail does? 

And there are many, many things in this world that have plenty of hair that divide us more than the wee little tail of a pet rat.

That guy's hair kind of freaks ME out.

What do we need to do to make you get over the tail thing? Would flowers help? Would it convince you to come meet some of these adorable little nuggets that are hanging out at our Neighborhood Adoption Center at Petco West San Jose?

My whiskers quiver even more adorably at the smell of spring flowers.

Because once you stop in and meet them and see how sociable and bright they are, you will fall in love. Not a flower person?

It is a nice break from the rain. 

Would a desert scene persuade you? 

Are you persuaded but not able to commit to a rat? We could also donations of cages (no tanks, please). Want to enjoy the joy that is rattiness but not have a hectic travel schedule? We're also looking for rattie fosters. 

***A huge thank you to our volunteer photographer Jim Allen who makes all the pets at our NAC's at Petco West San Jose and Sunnyvale look good. Taking beautiful photos of wriggly, curious little guys is a herculean task and we couldn't be more grateful for his photography (and photoshop) skills***