Mother dog nurses abandoned kitten with her 10 puppies. ‘She just loves this kitten’

After giving birth to 10 babies while at a Michigan animal shelter, Kela “insisted” she needed one more.

Kela, a Great Dane mix, was with her puppies when she heard the cries of an abandoned kitten who arrived at the Jackson County Animal Shelter on April 3, according to a Facebook post.

“She wouldn’t leave the door leading to the kitten,” staff with the Jackson County Animal Shelter said. “We knew she just ate, has water, already went out to potty minutes earlier... but kept scratching at the door.

“We opened it up to ask what she wanted and she RAN straight to the kitten in the box,” the staff continued.

Animal services director Lydia Sattler said she picked up the kitten, but Kela wanted a closer look, according to People.

“She also would not leave the kitten to go back to her puppies,” Sattler told the news outlet.

Sattler told MichiganLive she put Kela on a leash, then placed the kitten alongside the 10 puppies.

“We put the kitten in her pool and ONLY THEN did she lay back down in her pool with all the babies,” the shelter said on Facebook. “She instantly started cleaning him. It was 100% her idea and she wasn’t taking no for an answer.”

Since then, Kela has taken in the kitten as though he were her own.

She cleans him, keeps him warm and even nurses him, according to WILX

And Kela is protective of the kitten, perhaps even more than she is of her biological babies, according to MichiganLive.

“She just loves this kitten,” Sattler told the outlet.

And the feeling appears to be mutual.

“(The kitten) is so content to be cleaned, warm, and snuggled,” Sattler told People. “We haven’t heard him cry since!”

Many people offered to foster Kela, but the mother was “quite selective” on who she was willing to go home with.

On April 5, just two days after taking in the kitten, the shelter said “Kela FINALLY chose her foster home!”

“After turning down several great offers, she, along with her puppies AND kitten are settling into their own little paradise!” staff shared on Facebook. “We are so grateful for our amazing community that opens their hearts and homes to our pets.”

This story was originally published April 12, 2023 at 4:54 PM with the headline "Mother dog nurses abandoned kitten with her 10 puppies. ‘She just loves this kitten’."