At the time this picture was taken, we lived off a very busy highway. It was the norm to see animals that had been hit by cars, and it always upset me.
Well, I found a litter of feral kittens in the woods behind our house and I had no doubt that, with time, all of them would get hit by cars and die. So I decided to be a good person and rescue them. I thought I would take them down to the Humane Society, and they would be put in a foster home, bottle fed, and given a real chance at life.
Well, there were no foster homes available, and I was sent home with bottles, formula, and instructions what to do.
The week before, someone brought over two kittens they found and, sadly, they didn't make it through the night. I was pretty upset about it which is probably the reason I was determined to save this litter of kittens.
Once over the shock of bringing them back home, I was very determined to do the right thing for the 5 kittens. I set up a huge dog crate and faithfully fed them every few hours.
At the time we had 2 dogs. Parker just took to them like he was their mother. They climbed all over him, and he licked them cleaned. If one cried, he beat me to them.
When they were old enough to go back to the Humane Society, though there were many other kittens, mine got adopted out within days because they had been raised around a dog.
For a 135 pound dog, Parker was incredible with them. I don't know who missed them more, me or him.
By CPJ from Madison, AL
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What a beautiful story CaroleeRose. You have a very lovely way of writing, and I truly enjoy your postings.
We once had a miniature poodle named Penny who did basically the same thing. She also helped raise one baby squirrel. My little Rocky Pig squirrel would tangle his tiny hands in her curly fur and ride around on her back or neck for hours. We'd have to find Penny to feed the squirrel until he was big enough to leap off and come a'runnin' when I called "Rocky Pig"
His name came from my first granddaughter who was only 4 years old and was given a guinea pig. Somehow, her guinea pig and our Rocky got mixed up in her little mind, and all small animals like hamsters, guinea pigs, squirrels etc became Rocky Pigs. The name seemed appropriate for the squirrel as he grew large and round. LOL
There is something so special about animals who help with other species of baby animals. They just endear themselves to me and I love them most of all.
Our Sir Catty Kit is such a nurturing male cat that I sometimes wonder how do they get that way? What is so different about their lives that makes them gentle and tender to other baby animals. It is a precious quality though.
Thank you so much for sharing your Parker with us. He obviously is one in a million too. Parker is getting my vote. I wish I had a photo of Penny and Rocky Pig to share, but sadly, I do not.
Somehow, we expect humans to have that spark of humanity in them, but when we see it in animals as well, it makes me wonder if maybe they are becoming more like humans, then I pick up the newspaper and read where there are still humans killing other humans in horrible ways, and I think the animals may be a lot further ahead than those humans.
Thank goodness there are still people like you who keep the human spark of humanity in us alive. For all of us here, thank you for being a really kind and caring person. We loved your story. Parker is a kind and generous fur-baby, and he has a great human mom.
HokeyPoke
You have a kind and beautiful heart. Ghandi once said " How we treat animals is a reflection upon ourselves" (or something like that). Thanks for being a wonderful part of this world :)
What a lovely story! The kittens in the photo are so adorable & Parker looks so protective. When I was 4 years old, one of our cats had a litter of 4 kittens. Whenever she left them to go outside or to eat, our 6-toed male cat, Dittoe, used to babysit the kittens. He'd lie down & cuddle with them until Sisty, the momma cat came back.
What a wonderful story & a great picture! We had a Samoyed husky when I was little, who absolutely LOVED babies of any kind. Whenever our cat had kittens, we had to watch him or he would steal them & take them under our house to a hole he dug as a nest! And my adopted grandma had a female dog who took to her new kitten & began to spontaneously nurse it. That silly dog nursed that cat off & on for the rest of their long lives!
And they say animals don't have real feelings!
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