Can a mother cat have kittens and puppies ?

Question

Heard on the news today , that a mother cat had a litter of 3 kittens and 3 puppies . I quess the puppies look like the dad. Is this possible ?

Answer 1

No. First of all, the cell recognition proteins on the sperm and egg are different between the two species; each is incapable of fertilizing the other. Secondly, and more importantly, cats have 19 pairs of chromosomes and dogs have 39 pairs; it is virtually impossible to get them all to pair up correctly, meaning any conception that did occur would not be genetically viable.

The Brazilian report is an obvious hoax. Not only is it biologically impossible, the puppies are too large to have fit through the cat's birth canal. In addition, the couple making the claim have made a point of not having photos of the kittens taken - according to other reports the kittens are distinctly older, by about 2 weeks.

It is rare, but not unknown, for members of different species to have sex. It is also known, and more common, for mothers to adopt and raise young of other species. The latter is most likely what has taken place in the Brazilian case, but that wouldn't have gotten the same attention.

Answer 2

I know exactly what you are talking about. They are still waiting on the DNA report to come back. Dogs have something like 73 chromosomes and cats have 38 so they wrere checking the puppies to see what they had. They think what happened is the cat deleivered in that field and must have delievred by some orphaned puppies. Instinct told her to take them home leading the onwer to believe the cat had puppies. I seriously would never believe this!!!

Answer 3

I agree with the others, cats can not have puppies. She can "adopt" puppies. I have heard of cats have a litter but there being different fathers for the one litter. That's strange enough!

Answer 4

Cats are incapable of having puppies.

Here's the information on that news report you heard:

PASSO FUNDO, Brazil (Nov. 17) - Geneticist Adil Pacheco took blood samples on Friday from three puppies in a poor neighborhood in Passo Fundo in southern Brazil to settle a dispute over a claim they were born from a cat. "It's rather simple really. If the puppies prove to have 78 chromosomes, they are dogs. If they have 38, they are cats," said Pacheco, director of the Institute of Biological Sciences of the University of Passo Fundo. "But I seriously doubt they are feline. Every characteristic about them is canine." Cassia Aparecida de Souza, 18, said her cat Mimi had given birth to the three puppies as well as three kittens, which did not survive. And she, her husband Rogerio Jorge da Silva, 26, and several others in the town believe a neighborhood mutt named Dog is the father of Mimi's pups. When news of the spectacular claim spread in the Brazilian media, some local newspapers accused the poor couple, who are expecting their first child in a few months, of fraud and said they were simply trying to make money off a hoax. "I feel indignant at such accusations," da Silva said. Pacheco said he was asked by a local newspaper to conduct the chromosome test, which should yield results on Tuesday. "It's not uncommon for mammals to nurse young from another species. The cat gave birth in a field and she likely inherited the puppies from a nearby female dog who had recently given birth," he said.

Answer 5

No they can not. The pups are usually orphans and they put them with the female cat to see if she would care for them. And she did.

People do it all the time.

Squirrels raised by a cat.

Big cats raised by dogs.

And for some reason the media thinks this is cute and always run a story about it.

Answer 6

They're equally cute but what's even cuter is a dog taking care of a kitten

Answer 7

animal are not interacial, they only have intercouse with their own species, so no its not possible for a cat to have kittens and puppies. But it is possible for a mother cat to care for both kittens and puppies

Answer 8

I don't think that is at all possible. Perhaps the new story meant that she had adopted 3 puppies. That is not unheard of. It isn't genetically possible for a cat and dog to mate.

Answer 9

yes a mother cat can have baby kittens but not puppys if yuo mean baby dogs :I

Answer 10

Cats are incredibly nuturing mothers. They will nurse anything that tries. I even saw a picture of a cat nursing rabbit babies once. But they don't give birth to anything but kittens. You can't crossbreed species like that. Some "news" is junk.