Cats Adopting Puppies

Posted by Jennifer Copley Jun 3, 2008

After watching a video of a cat who adopted a litter of puppies that were rejected by the family dog, I had a look around to see whether this was unusual behavior. As it turns out, there are many stories of cats adopting motherless puppies, as well as numerous other cross-species adoptions.

In 2006, the Associated Press reported on a pug puppy, the runt of the litter, rejected by his own mother and subsequently adopted by the family cat Zoe. Zoe is reportedly not a fan of dogs in her day-to-day life, but for some reason made an exception for the abandoned puppy, nursing him alongside her own kittens. Reuters carried the story of a Brazilian woman who believed that her cat had given birth to puppies, as well as three kittens that did not survive. DNA tests conducted on the puppies indicated that they were dogs rather than deformed cats or a cross between puppies and kittens. Experts believe that the mother cat adopted the puppies around the time she gave birth to her own litter.

A third story tells of a Rottweiler mix puppy named Charlie whose mother rejected him when his littermates died. Luckily for Charlie, he was adopted by Satin, a black cat living at the Meriden Humane Society with a litter of her own.

On reading these stories, I grew curious as to whether dogs also adopt cats. A quick Google search of “dog adopts kittens” turned up a plethora of cuteness-overload videos depicting dog mothers caring for young kittens, which begs the question, is it compassion or simply instinct? Given that the majority of pets show concern for their owners’ wellbeing, I think it’s reasonable to assume that this concern can be extended to those of other species.