Mother dog adopts trio of newborn kittens

LUBBOCK, Texas, Sept. 12 (UPI) -- A Texas woman whose dog gave birth to a puppy said the mother canine also adopted a trio of newborn kittens.

Shannon Torrez of Lubbock said her sharpei and pitbull mix, Asia, gave birth to a puppy Sunday and Torrez soon received a call from a friend who had three kittens dropped off on her front porch, KCBD-TV, Lubbock, reported Thursday.

"I went and picked them up, figuring I was going to have to bottle feed them for a little while before adopting them," Shannon said of the kittens. "When I got home Asia was kind of throwing a fit that I had the kittens and she wanted to see them. I put them up to her and she didn't want to me to get them out of her sight."

Torrez said the mother dog adopted the kittens as her own and has been caring for them and nursing them alongside her newborn puppy.

"I honestly thought she would take them in, you know clean them, keep them warm at least, but that I was going to feed them because she is much bigger than they are. But no, they got the hang of it and she has no problem with them," said Shannon.

Dr. Lane Preston with the Animal Medical Center in Lubbock said it is not uncommon for mother dogs to adopt feline infants.

"It occurs actually pretty often," Preston said. "She goes ahead and adopts those kittens as her own even though they're not hers. They don't smell like dogs but the urge to mother and nurse is greater than all of those things."