Beauty is in the Eye of the Rat

I've always felt that the love of a pet is something that makes people feel wealthy. But how often do pets actually make you some money?

In the case of Tony Blair, a Norwegian rat, he has made his owner, Helena Seget, a profit off of his "works of art." His art includes pictures of half-eaten avocados, gnawed power cords and ceramic tiles with his paw prints. He has even branched into the food business by selling "Tony Blair Noodles."

Everything that Tony has done has been through the help of Seget. Her website shows her work and his work is displayed under 'projects.'

Tony's work first gained attention when Seget posted pictures of his work on The Saatchi Gallery website. His picture received several hundred online votes during a contest that the gallery held.

Once Tony's career took off, Seget started a blog for Tony. It can be found at Tony Blair-Artist Rat. After reading a few of the entries, I found his entries endearing and the photos are very cute. My favorite has to be a picture of his tail sticking out from under a comforter.

According to CNN.com, some of Tony's work goes for as much as 1,800 pounds. Sounds impressive in pounds and even more so in dollars: that's $3,500. I wouldn't complain about cleaning up after a rat with that much capital.

By the way, I would recommend watching the video at CNN.com because it's very cute...especially at the end where Tony slips off the table. I laughed...does that make me a bad person?

(Picture courtesy of helenaseget.com)