Open-Minded Dog Nurses Orphaned Kitten Back to Health [VIDEO]

Call it a truce in the age-old rivalry between cats and dogs. An unlikely, compassionate truce.

Pat Weber's grandson found an abondoned kitten, just days old and struggling for breath in a cold corner of the family's Jordan, Minnesota, barn. So he brought the little furball into their home, worried that it was already dead.

Weber put the kitty on their carpeted floor and called the vet. While she was doing so her 4-year-old Pekingese named Mittens approached the sad-looking feline and began to nuzzle it. Then the maternal pooch allowed the kitty to suckle.

After three days Mittens began producing milk for the kitten, which the family named Bootsie, even though she hadn't had a litter of her own in two years. Mittens also cleans Bootsie and cares for the kitty just like she would one of her own pups. Thanks to Mittens' love, Bootsie is well on the way to becoming a healthy cat.

According to experts, animals will sometimes foster other species, depending on the temperament of both the mother and the baby.

[Star Tribune, CBS]