Five year old Norma, the longhair chihuahua from Cundy's Harbor, Maine, raised three orphaned squirrels from tiny squirrel-pups to full adulthood.

The squirrels grew up with two puppies for siblings, and the dogs and squirrels continued to be good buddies when grown.

As squirrels are gnawing animals they have to be caged when no one's around to keep an eye on 'em.

Their cage is huge enough, opening in the front, so that their foster mom and the siblings can all be in the cage if they want to.

Sometimes the whole family is eating in the cage, the dogs on the floor, and the squirrels hanging by their hind feet from the roof eating their own food.

In the photo at the right, one of Norma's pups, Zachery, cuddles with one of the squirrels that became his littermates. The whole family is shown in the photo below. These delightful photographs by Troy R. Bennett.