Picture pawfect: Pet rats spreading a little joy

VETERINARY nurse's pet rats have been providing some ‘pawsitivity’ by creating mini paintings for people around the world.

- DANIELLE DESOUZA

Steph Toogood, who is 26 and based in Somerset, has owned rats since 2016 after falling in love with the rodents when mingling with them as part of her animal management course at college - and finding them to be a “huge comfort” after the death of her father in 2015.

However, it was not until 2018 that Ms Toogood realised her pets had a penchant for painting.

“The rats started creating art for myself in 2018 after I lost one of my rats, Captain Jack Sparrow,’ Ms Toogood, who also has a professional pet portrait business, as well as a pet sitting business, said.

“I took his paw prints and wanted something for my current boys to create which I would keep to treasure and so I found some mini canvases, and the boys got to work”

From there, Toogoods Tiny Paws was born in April 2019, which has seen hundreds of mini masterpieces, as well as other rat-related products including jewellery and magnets, made for people across the globe. The canvas most often used by the unconventional artists measures 7cm x 9cm.

‘The rodent painters include male rats (bucks) called William, Loki and Cosmo and female rats (does) called Tick, Denali and Kabana.

“When I first started my business, I had 12 boys who were involved in painting” Ms Toogood said.