Animal Cooperation

Several years ago, my local TV news station did a story about a dog and cat who lived with the same family. The story was rather unusual, to say the least, and I’ve remembered it all this time.

Both the dog and cat were female and had become pregnant around the same time. As the gestation period for dogs and cats is roughly equivalent, they both gave birth during the same week. Unfortunately, all the cat’s kittens died.

The pups, however, were all born healthy. But the mother dog was completely indifferent to them, doing nothing to care for them. She was on a long chain attached to a tree in the back yard and would drag her pups back and forth with the chain as she walked.

The mother cat observed this state of affairs and evidently decided to take matters into her own hands, figuring that the mother dog was useless.

One by one, she picked up the pups and took them to the nest she’d made for her dead kittens. The mother dog did not protest, seemingly oblivious. Once she had the entire litter situated, she nursed them and looked after them.

As the pups grew, they considered the cat their mother in every way, and ignored their true mother, who still remained oblivious to them. I have to wonder how these dogs turned out as adults; did they have more “catlike” personalities or were they indistinguishable from other dogs? At any rate, they owe their lives to the cat’s caring and quick thinking.