EDMONDS – Garfield had the eye of the tiger – but in the end, he was still just a hamster.

Garfield, a gold-colored hamster, couldn’t pull off the upset in an Edmonds gift shop’s contest to name a canine mascot. The bean-bag-sized pet finished fourth in the balloting.

Not that he minded.

After the results were announced Wednesday night at the Faces of the NW gift shop, Garfield sat in the corner of his cage, rubbing his nose between his paws. A consolation prize of white flowers sat atop his blue cage.

“I want to give him another chance to win,” said Lauren Estep, the 9-year-old Seattle girl who entered the hamster in the contest.

“We really thought he was going to win,” Lauren’s brother, Barrett Estep, said. “The guy who owns the store thought Garfield was getting lots of votes, and he’s such a cute hamster.”

Chrissy – the winning dog who was not present for the vote count – won with 42 of the 365 votes cast by store customers in July. Garfield finished with 21 votes.

The hamster was allowed into the contest because the rules only stated “bark-bark, woof-woof, grrrr” – which translates to “no cats allowed,” gift shop owner Mark Ukelson said.

Ukelson said he’s already planning a mascot contest for cats this winter.

“I’m pleased that people had a good time playing with one another,” Ukelson said.

Second place in the contest went to Benji, a poodle-schnauzer mix who turns 4 next week, said his owner, Renee Putrich of Seattle.

Putrich learned about the contest because she often passes by the gift shop when she goes out to dinner.

“It was just fun, just something fun to do,” she said.

A Pembroke Welsh Corgi named Austin won third place. As the votes were counted, the tiny pooch sat tied up outside the gift shop. He looked longingly at his owner, Kathy Losacco of Edmonds, who sat just inside the doorway.

“I think this was fun just to get the community involved with the dogs,” Losacco said.

As for Garfield, Lauren said he’d probably sleep well tonight inside his old gray sock.

Win or lose, it was a big day for such a little hamster.

“I’m going to give him some lettuce probably,” Loren said. “He likes lettuce.”

Reporter Scott Pesznecker: 425-339-3436 or spesznecker@heraldnet.com.