Mark, I’m a “nearly”75 aged woman who loves to listen to your show and I would like to tell you about a little rat terrier dog that we had when I was a child in the ’30’s. Her name was Trixie and she would swim out and retrieve the ducks that my father would shoot on our lake. She was so good to me and my siblings. She would go with us to bring the cows from the pasture and round them up for us to bring them in for milking. One day we found out she was going to have puppies and we were so excited. When the time came for that event we were heart broken when Dad told us that she was having trouble delivering them and would probably not make it. Well she had the puppies in the barn and brought them up to the house and put them in the yard by the back porch. Then she laid down beside them and died. We kids were sitting on the porch crying and dad was trying to comfort us. All at once Dad whispered to us, “Be very still and look out there at the cat.”

To our horror Puss picked up one of the little pupppies and carried it to the barn. We wanted to run after her and get the puppy away from Puss but Dad said,”No, just wait. I think I know what she is doing.” Back Puss came for the other two puppies and carried them away, also. Only then, did Day take us to the barn to see what was going on. Well, Puss had had a litter of kittens the night before and an old Tom Cat had killed them. Now Puss had adopted the puppies and she raised them as if they were her own. I was only five years old at the time, but I still remember Trixie and her little puppies that were given love by Puss. Who says surrogate mothers are something new!

Joycelyn from MO