Male Dog mothering baby kitten????

Question

We have a 3 year old male Briard dog. We just found an abandoned male kitten, 4 weeks old. Our dog now constantly grooms and licks him, lays by him, and stimulates him to go to the bathroom... everything a mother cat would do... Is this normal behavior for a dog? I think its awesome he does it, and I was just curious if anyone else has had a similar experience.

Answer 1

There are certain animals that are simply endowed with a special sense of love to give--there is something in their spirit that is out of the normal context of behavior ----we have had a Jack Russell female that had this unbelievable sense of nurse maid to her personality---three older dogs that we had prior to getting her were in the last days of their lives and that dog one at a time as they aged and died---cared for them as if they were her charge--it was the most touching thing I think I have ever witnessed in animal behavior in my lifetime---we even started calling her nightingale because of her devoted service of love to these aged companions

Answer 2

OMG....I have the same situation! How unique! Only my male dog is a boxer/airedale mix. The kitten that was abandoned is also a male. I think it is so cute too. I don't think this is a typical behavior but I don't think it's abnormal. We put a basket in the kitchen for the kitten, and all night long, my dog would lay next to him, picking him up by the scruff of the neck to put him back in the basket. Kitty is too big now to be picked up by the neck-He's now almost 5 pounds, but now they play together and sleep together and are best buds. Those two make for some really cute Kodak moments!
Don't forget to get your kitty's shots, get him tested for feline leukiemia and get him fixed if you are gonna keep him. ( I don't know about your dog, but my dog insisted that the kitty was going to stay-I didn't have a say in it!)

Answer 3

We had a collie shepherd cross dog that we ourselves had hand raised. A few years later we found a day old kitten and Cody immediatly adopted him and took care of him completely. We fed the little guy, but Cody washed him cuddled him and followed him all over the place. Unlike a mother cat, Cody never wanted to let the cat leave the nest and the two were unseperable for the next 6 years. When Cody died the cat stopped eating and cried for days. We buried the dog at our cottage, and a few years after that the cat died and we buried him beside him.

Answer 4

It is unusual, but I have seen this type of maternal behavior in a male dog. I think it is so sweet.

I had a female toy poodle that mothered a litter of kittens. She actually nursed them for about a month. Thing is the poodle had never had pups, and the kittens were 2 months old and had been weaned by their mother a couple of weeks before. They started nursing on her and her milk cam down and she nursed them. It was wonderful to watch.

Answer 5

I have heard of it with the males, never seen it. of course they cannot get milk or anything. I brought a kitten home and my female dog started mothering it. I thought it was cute untill she developed milk. I had to put her on antibiotics so she wouldn't get an infection. they were hurting her. when she hurts even something like a mosquito bite she is on my lap crying like a child.

Answer 6

My dog did this to my cat...and my sisters stufed animals.Some breeds are realy good mothers and fathers.Rotties(which i had) and wiemeriamers(thats horriablymissspelled)are on the top of the list for good moms.Its a good thing the cats has a mom, i'd let it be.

Answer 7

I have seen this before with mother dogs...they tend to care about the little ones.

Answer 8

It's normal behavior for mammals in general. It's not at all unusual for a mammal of one species to care for a baby mammal of another.

Answer 9

a good male dog father

Answer 10

Many animals will adopt another kind of animals' young. It is perfectly normal.