The Story of Adorable

Today about 66 percent of U.S. households include a pet. Most pet owners think of their pets as part of the family and expect little of them beyond love and companionship. But for most of history, animals were kept mainly to do work. Dogs helped hunt and herded sheep. Cats were enlisted to keep mice and rats out of barns and kitchens.  

By the 1800s, however, attitudes toward animals had started to change. Many Americans began to see caring for pets as a way for kids to learn responsibility. At the same time, more families were moving from the country to cities, which meant kids were losing the opportunities they once had to interact with animals on family farms. Pets, it was believed, offered kids a way to stay connected to nature. 

In the 1890s, shops selling animals and pet supplies began opening in the U.S. By the time Marsh won his hamster in 1946, the country was dotted with pet shops. But would hamsters be able to join dogs, cats, and fish among the ranks of America’s most popular pets?

Marsh believed the answer was yes. He obtained more hamsters (likely from a research lab) and got to work creating a hamster colony. Because hamsters breed quickly—females carry their pups for only 16 days—he soon had a large supply. 

Next he convinced a local store to display 12 of his hamsters in a window. In less than one day, every single one had been sold. 

Eventually, Marsh quit his job as an engineer to focus on his new venture. “When I came home and told [my wife] . . . she was horrified,” Marsh said in a 1949 interview. “She prevailed on the wives of my friends to try to talk me into going back . . . before I lost everything.”

But Marsh didn’t lose everything. In fact, he was about to become extremely rich.

Marsh proved to be a savvy businessperson. He advertised his hamsters in newspapers and magazines. (If you bought one, he would ship it by mail in a coffee can with a potato inside to nibble on during its journey.) He self-published The Hamster Manual, which offered tips on breeding and caring for hamsters. The book flew off store shelves. At one point, Marsh was bringing in $4,000 a week—about $47,000 in today’s money.

Marsh, it seemed, had ignited a hamster craze—which isn’t that surprising. Hamsters are clean, gentle, and energetic. And they provide endless entertainment as they scamper around their cages. Plus, they are ridiculously cute. 

Soon stores across America were selling them, along with an array of accessories, like cages and water bottles. 

But trouble was on the horizon. By the early 1950s, Marsh’s business was in crisis. An increasing number of pet stores had started buying hamsters from cheap backyard breeders. Then hamsters suffered an outbreak of “wet tail,” a disease that is fatal if not treated immediately. Worse, the majority of hamsters in the U.S. had been bred from a single set of siblings captured in Syria—and had many health issues as a result. 

With so many hamsters dying, it was no longer profitable to sell them. Their popularity faded, and Marsh’s business collapsed.

The story of hamsters in America didn’t end there though. In 1971, an American graduate student traveled to Syria with the goal of capturing new wild hamsters for research. He brought back a dozen, and interest in hamsters was reignited. 

More than five decades later, hamsters remain a favorite pet in American homes and classrooms. And though most people have never heard of Albert Marsh, it is thanks to his vision that hamsters have burrowed their way into our hearts.