Dog Adopts And Protects Abandoned Kitten

Everyone knows that dogs and cats don’t get along very well. But is this really true? There are many situations in which this does not happen, for example, cases where a dog adopts and protects an abandoned kitten, this happens, in particular, when the maternal and protective instincts come into play.

It’s curious how dogs’ protective instinct makes them take care of animals and people outside of their family circle.

This is much more common when it comes to babies, whether human or offspring of other species.

It is common that this is attributed to females, by their maternal instinct. But males also give many demonstrations of paternity, becoming faithful guardians of animals of other species.

Let’s look at some reasons for this behavior, which is more common than you might think, and it doesn’t just happen to pets.

maternal instinct

Adopting or protecting offspring from other species is more frequent in females than in males. This happens because the strong maternal instinct encourages females to protect, even breastfeeding the offspring who seem helpless.

This ends up being lucky for the puppies, especially for those who were rejected by their mothers, because they would have little chance of survival.

We do not know scientifically what is the exact reason for this behavior, but it is more frequent in females who have just had offspring, who are leaving the lactation process or who have lost their offspring.

protective instinct

This applies to both males and females. Dogs, even small breeds, are natural protectors.

There is also not much scientific evidence to support this, but there have been some studies that show that dogs are willing to help people and animals when he realizes it is necessary to save the life of this animal.

One of the possible hypotheses shows that the dog’s brain reaches a development similar to that of a 3-year-old child.

Children aged 18 months to 5 years are very willing to help others, in addition to being strangers.

Thus, a dog that identifies that the other is in danger or in an unprotected situation, will come to your aid, however, it will also depend on whether the dog does not feel that the other animal represents a threat, if it is very dominant or if cannot understand the nature of the help required.

It will be much easier for the dog to collaborate in the protection and care of a helpless puppy if its owner is the person who introduces the abandoned animal into the home, this is because most dogs generate a relationship of dependence with their owner and want to, before of all, satisfy them.

Ways in which protection is manifested

The way that protection manifests itself from one dog to another animal is quite obvious. First, he will spend a lot of time protecting the puppy.

Kittens can create additional stress for the dog, because they have behaviors that are not common in puppies, for example, climbing, jumping or even meowing will cause an alert state in the dog, because it will not recognize those behaviors such as ” normal” of a puppy.

Dogs will try to keep the puppies out of harm’s way, in addition to finding a place to keep the puppies;  this is more common in cases of very small animals, which are in lactation periods, which still have very restricted movements or cry very often.

The dog can be very protective of the puppy, this can end in protective attacks, but they are not very common.

This pathology is frequently presented in dominant dogs, which assume an alpha role within the home.

It can also be seen that the dog does things like licking the puppy, as he would if he were one of his puppies, and generally treats them as one of his own.

However, it is necessary to be careful that the dog does not lick the puppy too much, because cats salivate much less than dogs and this process can cause problems with the cold, even resulting in hypothermia in the puppies.

In addition, the dog may consume an excessive amount of the kitten’s fur, which is also not good for the kitten’s health.

Below, we leave a beautiful video of a large dog that is responsible for the protection and care of a kitten, who seems very satisfied with the situation.