Dog who longed for puppies nurses kittens

[Cass]

A Shih Tzu who, her owners say, longed for years to give birth — even to the point of going into false labor several times — finally is getting a chance to nurse some little ones: two stray kittens.

Owners Jean and Bill Schirf said the dog, named Geisha Girl, used to take a toy dog, wrap herself around it in her basket and mother it for a week or two.



Now she's doing the same thing with the kittens that Jean Schirf found two weeks ago in the woods behind her Cass County home just north of the Indiana border. The cats — a gray male and a gray-and-white female — appeared to be no more than 2 weeks old at the time, she said.



"She wraps herself around them all night long," Schirf told the South Bend (Ind.) Tribune for a story published Tuesday.





Not only did Geisha Girl start watching over and cleaning the kittens, which have been named Dilly and Dally, she started lactating within about a week — enough to provide them with some of the milk they need. Schirf helps out by bottle-feeding the cats 2% milk every four or five hours.





See the photos and read the article here

[Cass]

Hi there Jack



I love hearing about stories like this... our English Setter 'Ambush' nursed our kitten 'Smudge'... it was the sweetest thing. The kitten always went to the same nipple so after a couple of months... Ambush had this big 2 inch one LOL.



~ Ambush & Smudge ~

[Paula]

How can it be determined false labor for a dog? I can understand animals nursing from each-other, but false labor, was it gas? or did it mis-carry? was it breed ever? its about time dogs and cats become united in some way, but if the dog produced milk, could that be from the suckling of the kitten? interesting?

[A Karenina]

What a gorgeous photo! :-6

[Cass]

Harry3142 wrote: When Vagabond saw Samantha he quite literally smiled, and they became playmates from that moment to this.
Wow.. that brought tears to my eyes thanks for sharing