Posted on 02/14/2007 4:15:23 PM PST by Huntress
MERIDEN, Conn. -- Who says cats and dogs don't get along? Workers at the Meriden Humane Society are marveling at a short-haired mother cat who has willingly adopted a six-day-old Rottweiler puppy that was rejected by its mother.
The tiny pup, named Charlie by Humane Society volunteers, nurses alongside a jumble of black and gray kittens recently born to Satin, who was surrendered to the shelter by an owner unable to care for her.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Great picture! A true Valentine's Day story.
Thanks for the ping HOTD. Amazing how small animals will do this. The one of the mother dog and baby squirrel was amazing.
Our Collie adopted an orphaned kitten to go with her litter of pups
Oh, that's so neat! You never told me that before. Did it bark when it grew up..........LOL!!
Did you keep the cat?
The kitten belonged to a neighbor
When it was weaned they raised it up
Strange stuff
Yes, it is strange and I always wonder if those animals behave differently being raised by another type of animal.
That pic has something for everyone - cat fanciers and dog enthusiasts alike!
Wonderful!
Thank you!
Ms.B
Sweet! I would like to see them all when he gets so much bigger than they are!
Awwwwww!
Rottweiler mix, actually.
Too cute!
Connecticut ping!
Please Freepmail me if you want on or off my infrequent Connecticut ping list.
: )
AWWWW, I wish I could adopt them all, but my orange & white fuzzy princess might be overwhelmed by all the company ;-) Hopefully now that this picture's been published, the calls will start coming in.
We had a dog and a cat that had a litter of puppies and kittens, respectively, on just about the same day, at opposite ends of the same garage. The dog and cat got along ok, but the dog had very, very strong maternal instincts.
So strong, that a week later we came home to horriffic yowling, and entered the garage to see the cat in a frenzied panic, because the dog was laying there nursing her two puppies, and all four kittens, which she had gone and stolen from the mama cat. The dog was casually, not viciously, batting the cat away when it tried to get in and get its kittens back.
We had to keep them separate after that, because the dog was like that: she would steal the kittens and nurse them.
Very strong maternal instincts in that dog.
Also, the only time that dog ever growled at a human being or almost bit anybody was on a specific set of occasions, and one other. Whenever the dog had a litter of puppies, on the day she had the litter, even us, her owners whom she adored, would get a teeth-bared growl if we approached her and her newborn puppies. We got the message and didn't hold it against the dog. The cat didn't like her newborns being approached either, but wasn't as dangerously aggressive about it. That only lasted a day or so. By the end of the second day, we could get in there and pet the puppies and the mama dog. But not on the delivery day. She would have attacked if we persisted. It was clear. Very, very maternal. Gotta respect that. Even my dad respected that, and he had no patience for animals at all (or pretended not to anyway). Lesson: don't mess with a dog when she's just had puppies. For a day or so, she's not your pet anymore, and she will bite you, and it's nature and you cannot train it out of them and shouldn't try.
The other time she growled at somebody and actually bit him was when a big boy came into our yard and started beating up a little girl (who was his sister, BTW). He wasn't playing. And my dog wasn't either. She started to bark and snarl at him and when he kept punching his sister, she went right up his frame and bit him, hard enough to draw blood. Only time that ever happened. Dog would let MY "friends", my size, beat ME up sometimes, but she really didn't like the big boy picking on that little girl. He ran home and told his ma, who came over in high dudgeon about our vicious dog, until she heard that the boy (he was probably 14) had been beating his sister (she was maybe 6) then she walloped him and said "Good dog" and left.
Good stories, and completely true.
I didn't see that story, but I'd like to. I'm no fan of adoptions by same-sex couples, but heterosexual married couples need to go through all sorts of psychological screening and interviews before being allowed to adopt, while biological parents need only functioning genitals - excuse my crudeness.
No, I'm not suggesting that government agents or anyone else go around screening people for fitness to raise their biological offspring. Nor am I saying that every adoptive family is going to be stable and loving. However, living in NYC, I see too many cases of inner-city children being raised by parents who beat them, abuse drugs, etc. In that one respect the adopted children may have a leg up.
That sort of sweet good nature was prevalent among her offspring...one of her sons, a HUGE black tom who they called Big Daddy, would try to groom later litters and snuggle up with them like he also was trying to nurse them...they all loved him. He was as gentle with newborn kittens as any mother cat.
We have one of her other sons, a big grey monster.
Awwwww!!!!!!!
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