Five hoglets in the Rostov region of Russia were raised by a cat named Murka after their mother just passed away tragically.
Murka feeds five hedgehogs and a kitten. Photo: Ekaterina Semenova
Murka’s owner, Ekaterina Semenova, told the correspondent of KP – Rostov-on-Don about the big heart of an ordinary cat. According to her account, about three weeks ago workers were mowing hay near their house when something terrible happened.
“The grass was up to their shoulders. They were working with a special hay mower – a trimmer. And so it happened that the machine went over the hedgehogs’ nest. Only after the grass was cut, we saw that there was a mother and a brood of hoglets,” Semenova recalled.
Unfortunately, the mother hedgehog and one hoglet died. And although five of the litter survived, they had little chance – it seemed that there was no one to take care of them.
“They were very small, blind. They didn’t even have any spikes. I felt incredibly sorry for the babies, and I took them home,” Ekaterina continued.
At first she tried to feed them from a pipette with milk, but to no avail. In a panic, she called a veterinarian acquaintance, who told her to try and find a nursing cat.
The professional added that only 30 percent of nursing cats agree to take care of other animal’s offsprings.
“It so happened that our Murka had given birth to a kitten three weeks before. So I brought her the hedgehogs. The cat immediately accepted them as her own,” the woman explained.
So Murka has been feeding five hedgehogs for three weeks now. By the way, they have already grown spikes and opened their eyes. Kitten and hedgehogs seem to consider each other as one family.
Kitten and hedgehogs became one family. Photo: Ekaterna Semenova
“And Murka, the kitten and the hoglets sleep in one soft box. I think that the hedgehogs will live with us like that. After all, they have become completely tame,” Semenova smiled, adding that she was proud of Murka.
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