Farm Dog, Yeti, Nurses Piglets In Cuba

CAMAGUEY, Cuba -- Yeti the dog already had a litter of pups to care for when the piglets adopted her as a second mom.

Ever since then, the Cuban farm dog has been pulling double-duty, nursing not just her own young but also the 14 swine.

Farmer Mannorkys Santamaria said the piglets also take milk from their mothers, but when they see Yeti, they run to her for a meal. On a recent day the young porkers followed her around the farm as if she were their real mother.

"No one imposed this on the dog," Santamaria said. "The piglets discovered this on their own and began nursing with her when they turned 15 days old."

SEE THE CUTE PHOTOS (story continues below):

Santamaria, 35, and his wife Eida Fernandes, 40, raise pigs, chickens, doves and turkeys on their small farm in the eastern province of Camaguey. There are also several mixed-breed dogs who have showed up on the property over the years and stayed.

So far, Yeti is the only one to become an adopted mother to pigs. Fernandes said she doesn't seem to mind. All but one of Yeti's biological offspring have been given away, and the one pup remaining nurses alongside the swine.

"When the piglets ventured outside their pen, it seems they smelled the dog's milk and began screaming at her," Fernandes said. "In the beginning we didn't think the dog would let them suckle, but they insisted so much they ended up nursing with her."

Comments

[Sandra Stipp]

03:53 PM on 09/07/2011

Nature at its finest.

[Nic the wonder puppy]

01:35 PM on 09/07/2011

That dog is a real pig

[AGooglyMinotaur]

11:43 PM on 09/05/2011

CUTE :D

[hugatree]

06:06 PM on 09/05/2011

Look how scary thin that mama dog is. Nursing a litter of pups is wearing on a dog. Adding piglets to the match has pushed her over the limit. While this may be interesting in theory, that dog may not survive the ignorance of the farmer involved in using her for publicity.

[Imago1122]

08:45 PM on 09/05/2011

I couldn't agree more with you, hugatree.

The dog is extremely thin from suckling two different litters. The farmer has to put a stop to this---whether or not this dog is nursing the piglets out of the "goodness of her heart."

I've heard of sows nursing orphaned tiger cubs in places like Nepal, but sows are huge, far bigger at any rate than most dogs. And the piglets in this case have a mother somewhere who is presumably giving them plenty of milk.

[Psy chic K]

10:18 AM on 09/06/2011

Correct and good observation. In Cuba there is an extreme shortage of animal protein for food. There is never enough for the humans, so it's rare to hear of anyone keeping dogs as pets because there is no food available for them. Pet food is unheard of in less developed and/or communist nations. The Farmer probably sees the pigs as the prized commodity, so allowing them to steal milk from the pups will just fatten them up more and improve the end result; his dinner.
Add this story to the list of ways "humans" fail our ompanion animals. Sad!

[karen lyons kalmenson]

11:38 AM on 09/05/2011

mother dog so soooey generous;-D

[Lando Diaz]

10:58 AM on 09/05/2011

May be Casey Anthony should go and spend some time with this amazing dog.

[Gerio]

02:08 AM on 09/05/2011

And where's " mama piggy"? How come nobody inquired about her: I'd like to know where is she, and why she is not nursing the piglets. Did she run away from the stress and took a sabatical from these little suckers or WHAT?

[WILLIEMOJORISIN]

12:46 PM on 09/05/2011

The mother pig is there and suckling the piglets also, the little pigs are double dipping

[mother10]

01:47 AM on 09/05/2011

dogs are so cool...don't you just love them...

[Vineyard House]

10:22 PM on 09/04/2011

Yeti could teach us all a thing or two about selflessness. LONG LIVE THE FARM DAWG!!!

[M4dwoman]

09:41 PM on 09/04/2011

Yeah, I had a couple of piglets given to me. They're voracious; went around sucking up kittens for a little taste and then spitting them out. They'd chase me around the house squealing and jump up and down on my legs with their little hooves.
We had to put them in the back of a pickup truck to keep them from eating food off people's plates. It was like a piggy jack-in-the-box.
Smart little suckers too.

[johnjhenry1]

07:49 PM on 09/04/2011

The Republicans are not going to like this.

[Gerio]

01:56 AM on 09/05/2011

I know! You couldn't be more liberals as democrats to do this: Dogs feeding Pigs!

[simpleperson]

10:24 AM on 09/05/2011

Does look a lot like liberals sucking the government teet.

[anitaj]

07:10 PM on 09/04/2011

Good dog, Yeti!

[myvoyyce]

06:38 PM on 09/04/2011

I just love dogs! Most are really so sweet...

[EvaJ]

05:50 PM on 09/04/2011

Has anyone noticed that you can easily count every rib of this poor dog? Someone needs to feed Yeti.

[lovepumpkin]

08:27 AM on 09/05/2011

she's an island dog that is nursing pups and piglets... lactating animals tend to look thin when in milk.. have you ever seen a dairy goat?

[hugatree]

06:07 PM on 09/05/2011

Dairy goats naturally show rib. Dogs do not.

[Norman Sass]

05:09 PM on 09/04/2011

I wonder if the little piglets have problems with their stomachs growling?

[myvoyyce]

06:38 PM on 09/04/2011

Too funny!