It’s not unusual for an orphaned infant of one species to be adopted by another animal of an entirely different species, especially when that animal is a nursing mother.
Females will often accept another species’ offspring into her own litter and raise it like one of her own, and the inter-species bonding begins . . .
A squirrel, just a few days old, was found injured and malnourished in the Seattle area in 2005. He was brought to Debby Cantlon, a local resident who is passionate about animals. Debby is known in the area for taking in sick and injured animals, and nursing them back to health.
The following photographs say it all.
When Debby took in the tiny creature and began caring for him, she found herself with an unlikely nurse’s aide - her pregnant Papillion, Mademoiselle Giselle
Finnegan and new mama - a dog!
Finnegan was resting in a nest in a cage just days before Giselle was due to deliver her puppies. Debby and her husband watched as the dog dragged the squirrel’s cage twice to her own bedside before she gave birth. Debby was concerned, yet ultimately decided to allow the squirrel out and the inter-species bonding began.
Finnegan rides a puppy mosh pit of sorts, burrowing in for warmth after feeding, eventually working his way beneath his new litter mates
Two days after giving birth, mama Giselle allowed Finnegan to nurse; family photos and a videotape show her encouraging him to suckle alongside her litter of five pups. Now, Finnegan mostly uses a bottle, but still snuggles with his ‘siblings’, rolling atop their bodies and sinking in deeply for a nap.
Finnegan and his new litter mates, five Papillion puppies, get along together as if they were meant to
Finnegan naps after feeding
Finnegan makes himself at home with his new litter mates, nuzzling nose-to-nose for a nap after feeding
As the puppies grew, they got a bit boisterous for Finnegan, so he found his own ‘safe place’ – a pocket in Debby’s jeans hooked to the back of her bedroom door!
Letting Go
When Finnegan was eight weeks old, Debby felt that he was old enough to be on his own, and began putting him outside. He would run around, but stayed within the confines of the yard, and every night he would scratch at the back door, or at Debby’s daughter’s window to be let in for the night.
Update
One night he didn’t come back, but he did return two weeks later with four other squirrels. He wasn’t seen again until Thanksgiving Day but wouldn’t let Debby touch him. He was wild and free – just what Debby had been hoping for – and doing exactly what he was supposed to be doing!
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could all get along like Finnegan and the gang?
Moral of the Story: Keep on loving everyone, even the squirrelly ones!
Mdm Giselle is such a nurturing canine to have shared her mother’s love with the baby squirrel. What a touching real life story. It gives me hope about our own human world.
It certainly does give us humans hope – we can learn a lot from our furry friends!
What a lovely story and fantastic photos. Think I will share this on FB, it’s so cute.
Thanks for sharing it on FB Marcia!
You find and share the absolute best animal stories! Thanks
Thanks for that! I have a few more up my sleeve!
I love the expressions on the dogs faces. LOL
They are gorgeous, aren’t they? Such a beautiful thing to see.
The squirel was certainly making himself at home with real enthusiasm!
heart touching, how the squirrel is adopted!
(by the way, I was adopted too)
I hope you had a good mama too!
Thanks for posting this..so glad I found your blog!
Glad you liked it, and nice to meet you! You have a great good blog.
How lovely!
My MIL’s dog saved my kitten’s life. The mother cat was kicked and all the babies died except for Muffin. While Tintin was in vet hospital, on Muffin’s first day of life, Lady the Maltese cared for her, waking my MIL to feed Muffin, then licking her tummy to massage afterwards, and keeping her warm.
Awww, that is fantastic Tilly! If only we humans could be so compassionate, the world would be a better place.
That is the sweetest story!! That sure is one great Dog!! I totally expected the Squirrel wouldn’t want to leave his cosy home, but it was great to hear he made it in the wild – so cute he came back for Thanksgiving!!
Have a fun weekend,
Your pal Snoopy
Thanks Snoopy – have a fantastic weekend!
We love that the dogs and the squirrel get along. Even though we know dogs better than other animals because we are dogs, that doesn’t mean we can’t have fun with other species. Great photos! We wish we could play with the doggies and squirrel.
Woof,
Bella and DiDi
Thanks for stopping by Bella and DiDi!
Lovely story, Barb, and such sweet pups!
Glad you enjoyed it Denise!
That is an interesting story. Cute pictures. But I don’t know, squirrels carry a lot of diseases. Those pups were lucky not to have caught any.
I wondered about that myself. Guess they were just lucky.
What a remarkable story… Oh so precious!
It’s nice to read something like this now and again! Kinda warm and fuzzy!
This photos just melted my heart. So adorable and touching. It made me believe all the more that kindness and generosity is for all and can happen anywhere and to anyone. Thank you.
Did you show it to your son? I think he would have loved it and been amazed by the inter-species bond!
Oh Barb, how on earth did you manage to discover this story and get all these wonderful pictures? Amazing, so touching and beautiful ending. It is so beautiful when interspecies bond to that depth. Thank you for sharing this story and touching my heart.
Someone actually sent it to me in an email and I checked it out on Snopes to see if it was true – which is was, so I did more research to find the actual story and photos. I had to hunt around for the ending though, because I knew everyone would want to know if Finnegan survived and was eventually set free; so glad I did!
Barb, you did an ace job at following up on that!
what a wonderful gang, heartwarming post.. ; )
Glad you enjoyed it Dianne!
This story made me so happy! Debbie handled the situation perfectly. It’s almost like the squirrel came back to say “Look, I’m okay, thanks for saving my life!”
Yeah, when he came back with some squirrel friends, that’s what I thought too!
What a beautiful story! It made my heart happy to read it.
We need more of this “feel good” kind of stuff in our lives, Shell!
Adorably awesome!
Thanks for stopping by EC! Glad you enjoyed it.
It’s good to see a squirrel that gets along with dogs instead of one of those pesky squirrels that likes to harass dogs.
Perhaps because Finnegan was only days old when put with the dog, he didn’t remember how to be a naughty squirrel because mama hadn’t had a chance to teach him!
What a beautiful story and the photos are precious…thanks for bringing a blanket of warmth to the evening!
Glad I could warm you up with that story, Chris! Did it give you a warm, fuzzy feeling?
Not only warm and fuzzy but hopeful..may sound a little strange..but..
I can’t wait to see what you have up your sleeve Chris!
how precious. I love that he eventually went back outside to the squirrel community and yet checks in from time to time. Love truly does conquer all.
Joss, I thought that was the best bit – to be set free back into the wild, just as nature intended!
yes indeed.
My Family really enjoy to view this post Barb ,Thanks for sharing
I’m glad to hear that you family enjoyed it so much Jake! Thank you for letting me know.
Hi,
Such a beautiful story and precious pictures. My daughter rehabilitated squirrels for quite a few years, she volunteered with a woman from Frisky’s Primate Rescue in Maryland, the baby squirrels were so tiny and so sweet and she would feed them and care for them untl they could be released. she helped many squirrels.
That must have been such a rewarding thing to do, and give great satisfaction to your daughter, knowing how she helped the squirrels before being released back into the wild. You must be so proud of her Cathy.
What a sweet story. We have lots of this little critters that we feed, run and play with. We really liked your words sweet Barb…
“Wouldn’t it be nice if we could all get along like Finnegan and the gang?
Moral of the Story: Keep on loving everyone, even the squirrelly ones!”
Hugs and nose kisses
Yes, I saw the squirrel in your planter the other day and Chancy wasn’t too happy it was there – glad you got to take the photo though, he was cute (but not as cute as Chancy may I add)!
We can learn a lot from our furry and feathered friends.
That really is a great story and I especially like that Finnigan got turned loose. And that he survived being turned loose. I hate seeing animals that are meant to stay outside enclosed in a cage or a house. I really hate seeing bunnies in a cage. Good to see you Barb. This is Margie
Yes Margie, that was the best bit – back where nature intended, after a little bit of human and doggie help!
Aren’t animals amazing? They never cease to amaze me, and we can learn so much if we took more notice of them.
How are all your donkeys and cats Margie? I often think of you taking care of God’s creatures, you are so good to them
What a beautiful story!
Smoochies!
Milka
Thanks Milka – I can see you doing something like that!
Great story and great pictures! Makes me fell all fuzzy!
Awww – it’s that kind of story, isn’t it?
These are just the cutest pictures ever….isn’t nature just wonderful Barb? Thanks for sharing, they really made me smile, Trish
Nature never ceases to amaze me Trish!
Nice to see you here – thanks for popping in and leaving a comment.
That is so gorgeous. I just love how the squirrel has been accepted as part of the litter. It will be interesting to see how things develop over the next few weeks.
The squirrel was eventually freed into the wild; he re-visited Debby with some other squirrels but wouldn’t let Debby touch him, so I guess her plan worked – he is now wild and free – just as nature intended!
Hi,
That is just adorable, they are all so cute, it is wonderful to see different animals together like this, I just love it.
We can learn a thing or two from animals, Mags.
you are so right ..if only human beings cared for each other like animals do..even those of a different species..the world would be a better place.
That was a truly wonderful story and I enjoyed reading it and the photos are so cute…lovely
Thank you for even thinking of sharing it with us and thank you to Debby for her wonderful caring nature..
We can still learn so much from animals Patrecia.
adorable…we could all take away a lesson of unconditional love from our furry friends.
We could certainly do that Jeanne! The world would be a better place.
What an adoreable, heart-warming story, Barb … and the pictures. So sweet, how he became wild and free, but still came back a few times. I get all misty-eyed when I think about this.
Yes, and it’s a true story Rebekah; very heartwarming to read stuff like this.
That is beyond adorable seeing them snuggled together. All together now say, awww.
They are very much “awww” moments Margie!
I love that story. Thanks, Barb!
We nursed an orphaned raccoon once until we could get it to a wildlife rehabilitator. We couldn’t get it to drink milk, or canned milk, or infant formula UNTIL we mixed it with warm peanut butter. Then we “painted” the formula on to his tongue with a cotton swab and he started to rebound.
The squirrel story is a bit like your little raccoon story Nancy, but with humans doing the ‘mothering’. Fancy him liking peanut butter – who’d have known? Did he survive?
He did survive for a time. But I don’t know if he was successfully rehabilitated and released.
That is a very sweet story, I’ve heard of other animals raising a different species. We had a squirrel in our attic a couple years ago. We caught it in a have a heart trap and then my hubby took it for a very long ride. We aren’t supposed to that here, technically if we catch it we are supposed to kill it. Don’t tell anyone, we might bet in trouble!
I would have done the same thing Jodi so don’t worry, your secret is safe with me!