CuteOverload isn't about food unless cute animals are eating it. A post yesterday detailed how to make a miniature burger for your pet hamster. Using a little coring tool, simply punch out buns, cheese and ham, toss on a little parsley for lettuce, and your mini sammie - as Rachael Ray, who loves those cutesy expressions, would say - is good to go! And don't worry about the inclusion of ham, because hamsters are omnivorous and do sometimes eat meat. If you want your little hamster to stick to a vegetarian diet, just swap the "patty" out with a small carrot round instead. Either way, a little burger is a little more interesting, not to mention a bit healthier, than most gourmet pet foods.

A mouse was found in a UK ready-made meal. To be more specific, only the head of the rodent was actually in the meal and the rest of the body was presumably lost during processing. After purchasing the microwaveable curry at an Asada market in England, the pregnant Tricia Rankin only ate two bites before she spotted the head. She told reporters that she threw up all night as a result of the incident. The company, which is owned by Wal-Mart, has issued an apology to the woman and assured her that they would issue "an appropriate amount of compensation" after the product has been tested. I wonder if she will receive more "compensation" if they find other bits of the mouse in the meal. As far as value per piece, I strongly feel that the head of the mouse is the most traumatic bit to encounter, followed by the tail.

A woman in Tennessee claims that her 89-year old mother found a mouse in a can of Campbell's Bean and Bacon soup. Campbell's representatives say that they would like to examine the mouse and the can in question, both of which have been stored by the family who made the allegations. The company says that it is unlikely that a mouse could have gotten into the very rigidly monitored packaging system at their plant. Casting further doubts on the legitimacy of the claim is the fact that the woman's mother reportedly ate some of the soup before noticing that there was a mouse in the can.

To give you an idea of the sizes, though the article does not specifically state what size can of soup the woman purchased, a regular sized can of Campbell's soup is 10.5-ounces and an adult mouse is about 1-ounce. The woman must have been eating directly from the can, as she would mostly likely have seen the mouse (if it was, in fact, in the can) had she decanted the soup.

Happy Groundhog Day! Today, February 2nd, is the day that people gather to watch a large rodent predict the end of winter. Of course, the only official weather-predicting groundhog is Punxsutawney Phil, who has been predicting the weather annually from Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, for 120 years. Though the average lifespan of a groundhog is only 6-8 years, Phil cheats death by sipping a secret "groundhog punch" every seven years.

It seems inadvisable to eat large rodents when FDA approved sources of meat are readily available, but recipes for groundhog stew and fried groundhog do exist. A better way to celebrate the critters is by making a batch of cookies. Punxsutawney Phil has a favorite recipe for ginger cookies and Hi Monkey's Rock Cakes are adorned with tiny paper groundhogs.