Can a Dog Raise Kittens?

There may be few things more beautiful or surprising than two animals that don't normally get along, coming together as family members. When I adopted a two-week-old orphaned kitten, my border collie immediately decided to be its "nanny," constantly grooming and guarding the little critter. If you turn your back for too long, she even picks up kittens in her mouth and carries them like pups! This all raises the question: can a dog really raise a kitten safely? The answer is yes… and no.

Maggie isn't the first kitten-loving dog I've owned. I witnessed the same phenomenon when I was a child and my small dog, Sugar, gave birth at the same time as my cat. Sugar "kidnapped" the kittens from their mother, raised them along with their pups as her own, and two out of the five kittens survived to adulthood. It's amazing that two of them survived, but the fact remains that only two of them survived. Their chances at life would have been much better if they had been kept with their mother.

When I asked my vet, she told me that most kittens would not survive being raised by a dog, no matter how gentle and nurturing the dog is. Dog's milk has a completely different chemical balance than cats' milk, and getting the wrong kind of milk can cause a kitten to die of kidney failure or malnutrition. Another problem is that, while it may look like dogs and cats carry their young in the same way, they don't… and the method dogs use to carry puppies can break the necks of kittens, especially when they're very young.

For kittens who are old enough to survive without Mom's milk, survival with a dog as a nanny is much better. After five weeks, a kitten doesn't need to be nursed, but it does still need a mother to teach it boundaries, gentle play, and social skills. A very gentle, loving dog can provide these, although it's still important to supervise their time together since the dog could still unintentionally hurt the kitten.

If you have newborn kittens in your care who are too young to wean, avoid the temptation to give them to a dog, even a nursing dog, who seems to want to care for them. Your dog can help them learn and grow when they get a little older, but for now, the kittens will need you to be the one who feeds them, grooms them, and keeps them warm. See your vet as soon as possible for expert advice on rearing young kittens without their mothers.