Stray pit bull adopts orphaned kitten
In a remarkable story of survival despite the steepest of odds, a stray pit bull has been found nursing a helpless orphaned kitten.
Discovered on a roadside by an animal rescue group in Texas, at first rescuers thought the pit bull was nursing a puppy but on closer inspection were astounded to discover a tiny kitten, no more than a few days old, suckling on her nipple.
Both were rushed to the vet and were luckily found to be in reasonably good health.
“Over my 28-year career, I've never seen anything like this,” said veterinarian Dr. Rick Hamlin. “My gosh, to find this in the wild, that a pit bull and kitten found each other on their own and they connected like they did, it's really something.”
It is still unclear how the pit bull and kitten found one another.
“In this particular area, there's a lot of strays, so my best guess is that the mother pit bull had a litter of pups and they died or weened and she still had milk. And the kitten's mother, who just had her — well, something must have happened to her, and this kitten was left behind. The pit bull probably found her and took it as her own,” says Hamlin.
“They found each other at the perfect time.”
Both in the care of the vet, the pit bull is still as doting as ever. Staff have decided to keep them both in the same kennel, as the surrogate mum howls whenever they are parted.
“The bond between this pit bull and the kitten is just amazing. She cleans it, she licks it, and they snuggle up,” says Hamlin. “They're doing absolutely well. It's great that we're able to give the kitten the nutrition it needs, and to keep them both together.”
Once the kitten is strong enough, the clinic hopes to find the two their forever home but with one stipulation: you have to adopt the pair.
Image credits: Mercy Animal Clinic Facebook
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