A Chihuahua nursing two kittens was discovered on the 4th of July after being abandoned in front of the Terrell Animal Shelter.
The black Chihuahua mix had been tied to a pole with a box located to her side. The dog and her unusual babies were spotted by a police officer at a time when the shelter was closed for the long holiday weekend.
Officer Steven Johns recounts the discovery to local news station CBS DWS :
“I looked and saw two little balls of fur with her and I thought it was a couple of puppies.”
He goes on to explain what happened next, “I went to move them into a cage and moved the mama dog out of the way; much to my surprise the mama dog was nursing two kittens instead of two puppies!”
The threesome caught the eye and heart of one of the foster mom’s of Paws Patrol Animal Rescue, Deborah Franklin. “She’d want to come to you and she’d look at the babies and it’s like, ‘I can’t leave them,’ and I thought, ‘Now, listen, that little dog deserves a good home,’” she explains.
Slowly but surely the chihuahua and her nursing kittens are adjusting to their new home . The kittens are never out of sight of the mama dog who responds to their cries, cleans them and nurses them.
Franklin mentions that the dog doesn’t care that the kittens are not the same species as she is, her instinct is that she is a mother, they are babies and they need her.
Lucky for this little family, Officer Johns stopped to rescue the chihuahua and her nursing kittens , or they would have been out in the July heat for days without food or water for the long weekend. In honor of saving their lives, Franklin intends to name the male kitten Stevie after Officer Johns.
While awaiting permanent homes, all three are being looked after properly by Franklin who hopes that more people will adopt rescue dogs .
