‘Fairy dogmother’ rescued puppy becomes kitten whisperer

‘Fairy dogmother’ Dennis helps his owners handrear and foster orphaned kittens.

When Cockerpoo Dennis was rescued from a puppy farm as a tiny pup, his rescuers never knew he’d go on to become a kitten mum fosterer and nicknamed the Fairy dogmother.

The dog was very poorly when he was rescued by the RSPCA from terrible conditions (pictured below) at a puppy farm in Essex alongside 75 other dogs, in October 2014. He needed special treatment at the charity’s Putney Animal Hospital before moving to Leybourne Animal Centre in Kent.

After lots of TLC Dennis was finally healthy enough and strong enough to go a new home – and RSPCA inspector Rosie Russon and her partner, Rebecca Kenny, had already fallen in love with him.

Rosie, who lives in Kent, said: “Dennis has an affinity with other animals and responds really well to being around dogs and cats. We think it’s because he came from a multi-animal environment and all his early experiences that were positive were due to other animals.”

And it turned out Dennis, now three, also had a secret skill – as a kitten whisperer.

He started to help Rosie and Rebecca, who also works for the charity, when they brought home kittens that needed fostering or hand-rearing.

“Little kittens need their mothers to help them clean and toilet,” Rosie explained. “It was never deliberate to get Dennis involved with them but he showed an interest right from the start and we were keen to introduce him and the kittens to each other from an early age so they’d get along as they grew up together.

“Dennis would always be interested in the kittens and started to take them under his wing. One day we let them interact and his instinct took over – he just started to clean them.

“Now, he loves nothing more than to cuddle with them and keep them warm, and he’ll lick them to clean them up after a feed and to help them go to the toilet – just like their mother would naturally.

“We always keep a close eye on Dennis when he’s with the kittens and would never leave them unattended but he is very trustworthy around them.”

One kitten the couple took on as a hand-rear at just three days old was tortoiseshell orphan, Sydney. She had been abandoned by her mother in London before being taken in by the RSPCA.

The poor puss – who has vision and neurological problems – is now two and is best friends with Fairy dogmother Dennis.

“Dennis has completely mothered her. He completely latched onto Syd and they have become best friends, they’re inseparable!”

The couple have fostered around 200 kittens and, since Dennis joined the family, he’s helped with around a dozen kittens.

“He is such a gentle, sensitive and caring little dog,” Rosie added. “He adopts them as his own and loves to mother them.

“He’s so gentle and loving towards them, it’s absolutely adorable.”

To find out more about becoming a fosterer for the RSPCA, please visit the website: www.rspca.org.uk/findapet/foster. To help the charity continue rescuing, rehabilitating and rehoming animals in need, please donate by visiting: www.rspca.org.uk/give.