Forget the turtle doves and French hens, the perfect gift for your true love this Christmas is Toadstool the rat.
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He may not feature in any traditional carols or have a festive cookie cutter dedicated to his silhouette, but the cream-coloured critter could be the solution to your last-minute Christmas shopping.
![A rat under the Christmas tree? A rat under the Christmas tree?](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/b68fb86c-9aff-426b-b6b5-b4719a7d629a.jpg/r0_0_729_486_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Toadstool is one of the 12 Strays of Christmas, the latest RSPCA campaign featuring bunnies, puppies and even a lorikeet in search of a home in time for the holidays.
RSPCA ACT chief executive Michael Linke said some of the animals had already been adopted, but there were still nine loveable waifs to choose from.
''I'm very confident that they'll all find homes over the next few days,'' he said.
Mr Linke said more than 100 animals had been rehoused throughout the first fortnight of December, which he said represented a ''quantum shift'' towards adoption.
''The community is adopting animals at a faster rate than ever before,'' he said. ''Our adoptions for December have increased 50 per cent compared to the first two weeks of December last year ... The community is beginning to reject impulse buying and intensive unnecessary breeding.''
But Mr Linke said there were still lots of animals being dropped off at their Weston headquarters.
''We've had an intake leading up to Christmas already, about 25 animals a day,'' he said. ''It will pick up again in January when people go back to work and maybe decide the animal they got they don't want.''
Mr Linke said RSPCA staff were expecting a lot of cats and kittens, though weren't ruling any species out after their surprise intake earlier this year.
''What we saw in February and March were rabbits,'' he said.
''Lots of people seemed to have rabbits and we received a large spike.''
For further information on adopting one of the 12 Strays of Christmas, visit www.rspca-act.org.au.
This reporter is on Twitter: @stephanieando