
DATE: Thursday, June 26, 1997               TAG: 9706260365

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B11  EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY REBECCA MYERS CUTCHINS, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH                        LENGTH:   71 lines

CAT-NURSED PUPS MAY BE PICKS OF THE LITTER THE NATIONWIDE CELEBRITIES ARE ALMOST READY FOR ADOPTION.

Jay Leno cracked a joke about them in his monologue. CNN posted the news on its web site. Peter Jennings mentioned them on ``ABC World News Tonight.''

Now, nearly two months later, the five Portsmouth pooches that achieved celebrity status after being nursed by cats are available for adoption.

Well, almost.

``They've got ringworm,'' said Keith Jeter, Portsmouth Humane Society executive director. But with ongoing treatment for the fungus, he said, the puppies - two females and three males - should be adoptable within three weeks.

The mixed-breeds were dropped off at the Portsmouth Humane Society on May 2 by the owners of a mother Rottweiler that had killed two of her seven puppies at birth.

The owners were hoping the animal shelter would have a nursing dog that might accept and feed the remaining puppies.

No nursing dogs were available, but a pregnant tabby cat nestled up to two of the puppies and encouraged them to nurse. Jeter then placed the other three puppies into the cages of three other nursing felines, two of which graciously accepted the pups.

The cats nursed the Rottweiler-Labrador puppies for about a week, their diet supplemented with puppy milk formula, Jeter said.

The newborns then were taken to Animal Glamour, a boarding and grooming business in Chesapeake's Great Bridge, where a 3-year-old English cocker nursed them and a 7-year-old poodle groomed them until they were weaned.

``As it turned out, the English cocker would feed them, but she wouldn't take care of them,'' said Geri Henry, owner of the business and the two dogs. ``But I had a standard poodle that did that. It was a partnership.''

A day after the story of the cats nursing the puppies was published in The Virginian-Pilot, the story was distributed nationally by The Associated Press. That's about the time the phones started ringing at the Portsmouth Humane Society.

``After the story ran, we were contacted immediately by WFLA, an AM radio station in Tampa, Fla.,'' Jeter said.

The shelter's kennel supervisor, Lisa Gray, spent about three minutes in a phone interview with the Florida radio station at 6 a.m.

``They just asked basic questions, like `Has this ever happened before?' '' Gray said, ``and I said, `Well, not that I've seen.' ''

The shelter also received queries from other radio talk shows, as well as newspapers from all over the country. The story appeared in USA Today, Jeter said, and Woman's Day magazine is considering a follow-up.

Kennel worker Holly King said she was stunned when she heard the words ``Portsmouth Humane Society'' coming out of Leno's mouth.

``Normally, I don't watch him at all,'' said King, who had been watching the news and caught the first few minutes of Leno's monologue before going to bed.

``He was going over the national news and making jokes, and he said something like, `On the lighter side of the news, at the Portsmouth Humane Society in Portsmouth, Va., we have mother cats nursing five little Rottweiler-mixed puppies.'

``Then he made a joke, something to the effect of: `Ellen comes out of the closet. We've got cats nursing puppies. What's the world coming to?' '' ILLUSTRATION: MARK MITCHELL/The Virginian-Pilot

The five puppies that were nursed by cats at the Portsmouth Humane

Society have been weaned, but they need to be cured of ringworm

before they'll be ready for adoption. That should take just a couple

of weeks.

TO ADOPT

Call the Portsmouth Humane Society at 397-6004 or visit the

animal shelter from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Saturday,

at 2704 Frederick Blvd., Portsmouth.