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CLEVELAND -- A cat caring for four newborn kittens is nursing an orphaned week-old pit bull puppy in Cleveland.

Sharon Harvey of the Cleveland Animal Protective League said Wednesday that Lurlene the cat welcomed Noland the puppy to her "unusual little family." The puppy was dropped off at the animal shelter last week when he was a day old.

The staff decided to place Noland with the nursing cat and her litter because bottle feeding doesn't always work.

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Now, six months later, the Cleveland Animal Protective League, the organization that rescued the pair, has won a $25,000 grant from the Petco Foundation's 'Holiday Wishes Grant Campaign' contest.

Molly, Noland's mother, was discovered later that day looking anxious and famished. Her owner, who was later convicted of animal neglect, had her chained up behind the home.

Since Molly was unable to care for Noland herself and he'd been getting along so well with Lurlene and her kittens, they decided to have the puppy stay with Lurlene's family in a foster home until he was old enough for adoption. He would occasionally go back to the shelter to play with his mom.

"Noland blended in with the family so well, he was even found using the litter box a few times," Judy Hunter, APL's director of development, wrote to Petco.

Eventually, he was placed in a foster home with puppies his age where he learned how to be a dog.

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