By JENNIFER DEAN
The Press-Enterprise
When Norco resident Sherry Haynes welcomed a litter of four new miniature pinscher puppies to her home, she had no idea an additional four kittens would be joining soon.
The mini-pin mom, Jasmine, made a regular practice of chasing a wild cat around the yard, but never actually catching it. Last week when Jasmine chased the cat, Haynes noticed the cat ran off, but Jasmine continued to sniff around one corner of the yard.
To Haynes’ surprise, there were kittens. She quickly put them up in a horse trailer on the property, fearing that Jasmine could hurt them.
When the mother cat failed to return, Haynes brought the kittens inside to clean and bottle-feed them. She cleaned the first kitten and then placed it in an open box.
While cleaning kitten No. 2, she heard a sudden pint-sized screech. Thinking the worst — “Oh my God, she’s eating that kitten!” — she rushed over to find quite a surprise.
The mother dog had carried the kitten into her whelping box and was enthusiastically cleaning and caring for it. The kitten hadn’t cared for the jump into the box — the reason for the screech — but was soon nursing hungrily.
Haynes added the three siblings and soon Jasmine became a proud mother of eight.
The kittens (now 3 weeks old) and their mini-pin siblings (also 3 weeks old) are a pretty big job for such a small mom, so Haynes supplements with bottle feedings.
“She absolutely loves her babies, every single one of them,” she said. “You pick a kitten up and she just keeps an eye on you until you bring it back.”
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