September 26, 2002 15:35
Two vulnerable kittens faced a grim future after being dumped on a city street. That was until four-year-old Chyna the Boxer dog adopted the two little bundles of fur, now called Tom and Jerry, and made them her own.
The two kittens, aged about four weeks were handed in to staff at the Chapelfield Veterinary Practice, on Chapelfield Road, last Tuesday. They had been left outside a nearby house in a box, with no blanket or food.
Katrina Leamon, a nurse at the practice, said: "When they were brought in they were in a bad state, they had fleas all over them and were thin and lethargic. "They must have suffered through the cold night." Ms Leamons took the kitten's home to her house on Rosebery Road, Norwich, to take care of them, but it turned out to be her pet dog doing the nurturing.
She said: "Chyna had a phantom pregnancy and has been producing milk, they took to each other immediately and she is playing the role of mother, feeding and cleaning them. "The three of them have set up house in my front room. They all share Chyna's bed and are quite the family."
Sophia Limpens, a vet at the Chapelfield Practice, said that this sort of bonding between different breeds of animals was quite common. The classic story is the boy, Mowgli adopted by wolves, in Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book.
She said: "It's acceptable for animals to take on another breed of animal if they have milk and the animal really wants to be a mother In this instance, Chyna was herself not doing too well, she was producing milk for puppies that she was never to have. We thought that we might try it out and see if worked, it was a gamble, but it paid off."
But not everyone is happy with the new arrangement.
Ms Leamon has another cat, Gizmo, who has not taken to the new additions to the family. "Gizmo, is only a year old, so is still a kitten himself and is suspicious. But that is OK, because Chyna keeps guard over her brood and he is not allowed near them."
Ms Leamon is unable to keep the kittens and has been in touch with the RSPCA to find new parents for them. Dr Limpens, said: "It is a too early to say how Chyna will react when the kittens are taken away, but most puppies are separated from their mothers when they have been weaned. "I think as soon as she stops producing milk and her hormones calm down, she will be willing to let the kittens go."
Ms Leamon believes that she has found a suitable home for Tom and Jerry and as soon as they have been weaned, in about two weeks, she hopes to pass them on.
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