Above) Tinkerbell is a wee speck of a mommy chihuahua taking care of four puppies in January of 2010. Being too tiny to give birth properly, she was assisted by a caesarean operation at the Hobart Animal Hospital in Australia.

But four pups wasn't enough for her, so she adopted three newborn orphaned kittens. Tink's owner Angie Reynolds intended to hand raise the kittens herself, but upon introducing them to Tink (in January 2010), the little mom fell instantly in love with them and insisted on taking over the chores, preferring no one else to even touch them. [Photo by Leigh Winburn of Tasmania.]

Below) In Dunedin, New Zealand, Carole Wiffen's chihuahua Anna raised Persian kittens Hammish, Sam and Hope. Miss Wiffen, 63, learned of the two-week-old orphans, which were apt to be euthenized. She wasn't sure how her eight chihuahuas would respond to having kittens around, but she gave it a try, expecting she would have to hand-feed the kittens herself.

But Anna, who had had a litter of puppies earlier that year, was not so long before lactating that it was difficult to begin again. She took an instant interest in the young ones and soon enough "little droplets of milk began appearing on her nipples. Anna was sitting on my knee while I was feeding them, and all of a sudden they began to feed from her!"

She continued to feed them for six weeks, at which point two of them were adopted out. Carole Wiffin said, "I'm keeping one. Anna would like to have one around." [Photo by Peter McIntosh.]