A Goofy Question
 

Forgive me for asking this, but I've always wondered about it. When I was a little girl, I was given a kitten - I named him Boots. At the time, we had the most gentle, wonderful black lab named Tara. She had never had a litter of pups, but was extremely loving, maternal, and gentle to all creatures - just a really special dog.

Anyway, when we got Boots - Tara started lactating and Boots, the cat, started nursing off of Tara! I have pictures (film camera pictures, not digital) of it and everything, it's the cutest thing (and bizarre too). Somehow, Tara thought Boots was her baby - and we couldn't get them to stop nursing. We were also becoming worried bc Boots' tongue was so rough and was beginning to irritate Tara's nipples - and I remember that Tara's vet told us to put Tabasco on Tara's nipple (ouch!) to get Boots to stop nursing. I don't remember how we eventually got this all to stop, it was so long ago - but obviously we did. But, from then on - I think they always thought they were Mom/Son, lol!

My question is - how on earth did it even happen physiologically? How did Tara just start producing milk like that?

Good question... I'm interested to see the answer... and maybe some pictures. :p

Don't know how it happens but it does. Every time Tally had a litter of pups Tessa would go crazy wanting the puppies. On the first litter, One day we went to town and when we came back Tessa was in with the pups. OMG she was crazy over those pups, so we gave her one for a few hours at a time each day rotating, in just a few days she had MILK!!!! so we split the litter and let her raise part. Ever since then she has always raised half of the puppies Tally has because you just cannot keep her away. The puppies that Tessa let nurse were always fatter. It is just amazing the mother instinct in some animals. Tessa is always happy as a kid in a candy store with those pups.

I have a good friend that her dog is nursing a kitten. She's also never been bred but through nursing, it brought in milk.

I've also had a mama goat raise a baby lamb. That was pretty cute.

Be cause she didn't want that baby drinking....cow's milk. ;)

Okay....here's really why. The suckling kitten stimulated her into producing milk. It's that simple.

A dog we had...thought a kitten we'd gotten was her baby. She carried Alex everywhere. Let him nurse...and even went so far as to "clean" up his poop (eat it...) I told her...she didn't need to be that good a mother.

Wow, this is interesting!! It's amazing how dogs can do this....I wonder how it happens.

That was such a cute story about Tessa - how she just MUST have some of those puppies for herself - such a Momma! :)

So, even though a "birth" didn't happen, you think the correct hormones were stimulated nonetheless by suckling? Maybe that's it.

Tara also did start eating Bootsie's poo too (ugh, of course)...

Ann - I can't answer your question, but I had the same thing happen to me - I had an Irish Setter who nursed a kitten - the funny thing is the kitten was fully weaned and Mandy would lay down and lick the kitten and push it towards her belly until the little ball of fluff figured it out and started sucking. It didn't take long for Mandy to produce milk..... Go Figure.....

My big question is how did Mandy KNOW that this member of a completely different species was a baby that needed milk? At that time Many had never had pups - later she did have one litter and was the best mom ever!!

In my professional lalecheleague opinion...yes. ;)

Not all pregnant animals produce milk before the "baby" is born...suckling helps induce the hormone for milk production.

Yeah...the poo part I tried to convince Aggie wasn't necessary.

Tessa had a surrogate momma carry her babies. :)

That's pretty much EXACTLY what happened! Boots was already weaned too. And Tara had never been a Mom....but there she was, takin' care of business, for another species! :p

Dig up those pictures!

I agree with this... now I've thought about it, a couple of weeks ago I watched a documentary on Breastfeeding and there was a woman who was adopting a new born baby and she really wanted to breastfed the baby. So for a few weeks before the baby was borned she used a pump to stimulate her breasts a little each night and over a period of weeks she began to produce the same amount of milk an actual birth mother would produce for her own baby. This woman had never given birth in her life.

Should I??? Maybe I should!!! I will look in my old albums tonight and see if I can scan them! :D

I don't know "how" it happens but I have an understanding as to "why"-- in a wild dog pack generally the alpha bitch is the only one to be mated and whelp pups, but she became alpha for a reason-- she is also generally a terrific hunter. The pack needs her hunting skills to thrive, so other females in the pack will lactate so that they can raise the pups while she is out working. Learned this on that In The Womb: Animals National Geographic special from sometime this past year (I bought the video b/c it has 4-D images of puppies in utero). So not too crazy that some, but not all, domesticated dogs do this as well.

I currently have a litter of 6 papillon puppies who are 7 weeks old tomorrow. Weaning to kibble is going well but they still nurse a few times a day. Their mother, the best mom ever LOL, has been regurgitating about .3 of a cup of food about twice a day after she nurses them, this has happened in the last week only. No vomiting at any other time. My theory is that she is unconsciously working to wean the puppies. Isn't mother nature fascinating? Of course I pick it up (usually before the puppies mob it) and try to explain to her that I really don't need the help as their kibble eating is going just fine ;)

Maybe she's hurrying that kibble business up....puppy teeth hurt. ;)

I watched a national geographic documentary on domesicated cats and their larger counterparts. There still is a lot of Tiger in kitty.

Oh, that's interesting - thanks, Wildcard! Makes sense from the pack/alpha perspective too.

I would absolutely *love* to see pics of your papillons some time - you should post in the pic forum! I love paps - their floofy ears and little faces. One of our further-away neighbors has 2 - and every once in a while I see him walking them, and they just prance a long, fur a flying - it's SO freakin' adorable, I can hardly take it. :)

There are photos on my website at www.wildcardpapillons.com, the puppies/litters have their own page. Looks like a lot of puppies but most of the photos are of the same litters at different stages LOL.

And even photos of our YT puppy Ricky Bobby on the "showing for others" page. He is a real hoot, and maturing really nicely, I need to update his photo. He just turned 6 months, we are waiting for him to mature a little more before showing him. His breeder/owner was restricted on how many dogs she can have so he lives here. Very different personality than the papillons but he has stolen my heart. :D

ADORABLE!!! I was really taken with Piper and Kit! So cute/handsome. I just love Pap's ears. Ricky Bobby is really adorable as well, what a teddy bear and such a plush coat! What is the Papillon personality like?

Piper and his daughter Penny are very very special to me, I love all my dogs and have special relationships with them, esp. because of the training we do in particular for obedience, but Piper and Penny have a special quality to them that sets them apart. The most recent litter is a repeat of Penny and I am going to keep the boy (only boy Piper has sired to date) and already at 7 weeks he has me sucked in!

My papillons are, for the most part, very biddable and extremely interested in training and the praise that goes with it. They like food and toys but they seem to enjoy figuring stuff out and love human approval. Ricky Bobby the YT is doing really well with his training but he is far more independent and self-interested. But I can appreciate his personality too, it is kind of nice that he is not such a suck-up. He also will lay down and be quiet when I want to veg (does not happen very often) but he is always ready to play. I have not been around enough YTs for long enough periods to know if his personality is typical or not.

My papillons rarely lay down when they are not crated, you might come to my house and see the 13 yr old sleeping on the couch but mostly he is up and about too. They are either tearing around like banshees (the younger ones) or they are sitting near me, on me, under my feet etc bugging me to "do something" with them. They want constant interaction but snuggling is not what they have in mind. Of course I think a lot of that is due to the dogs I have chosen as partners, I like high drive, intense dogs with lots of energy. There are paps out there that are much more laid back. All breeds have so many variances in temperaments, but these are the differences I see in my house.

Hmmm, do we see your house becoming a THREE dog house??? :p

I love Paps too, my ex used to do some work for a family who bred and showed them and I used to love going round and playing with them all. I really hoped that he would let me have one but he wasn't one for little dogs so I got a Border Collie instead.

Oh, they sound fun - and like quite a crew. Maybe Ricky Bobby needs a Raquel Babette :p! He sounds pretty unique, actually, as a yorkie - since many of us "complain ;)" of how dependent our yorkies are, and how they are like "velcro dogs", always wanting to be with us every millisecond. So, RB has some unique qualities there - love the name, btw.

You stop that! LOL. I do think they're just adorable. But I feel like we're just perfect right now at 2. Plus, Marcel is *such* a Momma's boy, he would just be devastated - I don't think I could ever do that to him.:p

A lovely little Pap sister for the boys! :p:p:p

ENABLER!!! :p:p:p

:laugh: Who, me?? :laugh: