Animals, unlike humans, have a strong sense of affection and caring, especially for those in great need. Surprisingly, these instincts have transcended their species more than once. But, as we are used to, animals never cease to amaze when it comes to helping a living being in desperate need. As they say, there are no strangers’ children! This time, a caring mother cat adopted eight abandoned baby hedgehogs. 

The little hedgehogs were found after their mother was killed-the tiny babies were sent to survive without their mother to save them. Zoo staff picked up the little hedgehogs and took them into foster care. Zoo staff tried every method to get the eight hedgehogs to feed, but they refused milk from a bottle, syringe, and saucer for two days; even when they were placed on a heating pad to stimulate digestion, the babies could not eat independently. It was clear: if these prickly babies did not start eating soon, they would not survive. 

Musya stepped in with a fluffy black cat who had recently adopted and nursed a litter of foster kittens, and she still had milk left. With no options, the zoo staff combined Musya and the hedgehogs into a family, hoping that Musya’s presence and milk would be enough for the hedgehogs to start eating. Suddenly, the self-sacrificing cat instantly accepted the eight babies as her kittens. 

The little hedgehogs were instantly hungry, feeling Musi’s natural warmth and smelling her milk. Within seconds, they crawled right into her soft belly, and Musya also began lying on her side to feed them. Although they are not her biological children, she is not afraid to share her milk with these poor babies and takes care of them as her own. 

Zoo workers continue to watch the babies develop, but a mother cat and baby hedgehogs look like a family made in heaven. Sadgorod Zoo media director Alyona Asnovina said there had been an “invasion” of hedgehogs in eastern Russia this year. This is not the first time a cat has nursed orphaned hedgehogs in the country. In 2012, a cat named Sonya took in four babies and helped them with her kitten.