sábado, 19 de mayo de 2012

"Memory of Thelma" - Rescued

The stories will remain here, the pictures in the other entry. Some stories will have the URL, if the text looks strange, or incomplete, or wrongly written.

Link to the pictures...

"Of all the notes and pictures which you will see here, the first I found was that of Patches (British Columbia, 2003, 04); later I started to see one or two more here and there... When I found the picture of Thelma (first of the other link), I thought that the series was already over. Then I saw those of Squirrel and Kitty (1st and 2nd after "Dongguan, Guangdong - 12/10/03"); then the images and notes about the Cats of Changchun, Shijiazhuang, Zonguldak, Yantai, the Cat Mimi, the three images right before "2008" and the Cat of Jilin; and I thought again that with those it all was finally over...
But now it's like having been looking Dragons who walked freely by my street, with all the ones I've been finding in less than five months. Because, simply, none of the things that you're about to read can be fake or invented. In the really big ocean that is Internet, I found all these pearls, most of which now can be seen only here...

This post comes only because I chose the 11/3 as the day of the mother Cats who opted -and still do that by own will- to nurse newborn Mice, or Rats; and so giving some message to the World right since the 18th Century.

Updated again!!! - Mar 3, 2015

( I wish I could do it for ever )

To Nurse Mice And Rats Was Always Our Job
...But We Always Did It With Love,
And Of Course We'll Keep Doing It.

A new voyage to Italy, Maximilien Misson - 1714 - History
"The Stones of Tivoli put me in mind of a memorable accident related by Alexander Taffoni, in his Various Thoughts. Not many days ago, says that author, the workmen that were employ'd to dig stone at Tivoli, having cleft a great mass, found in the middle of it an empty space, in which there was a living Crayfish that weigh'd some pounds, which they boyl'd and fiat I have read in another author, that Alexander found a wrought diamond in the heart of a great piece of marble, and a considerable quantity of sweet and odoriferous oil in another piece of like marble, which is less incredible, that Tassoni also relates, that the same year a Cat suckl'd a Rat in Tivoli; but before I employ'd my Time in reasoning upon such sort of facts, I would be sure of the truth of 'em, by undoubted proofs".

The Scot Magazine - June, 1752
"Some years ago, at Mr. James Greenfield's in Maryland, was observed a most surprising sympathy between a Cat and a Rat. It was supposed to have happened thus.
The Cat had young Kittens, and frequently carried them Mice, and other animals its prey, and among the rest a young Rat.
The Kittens, not being hungry, played with it; and when the Cat came to give suck to her Kittens, the Rat likewise sucked her".

Social Science - 1787
Cirencester, few years ago. A farmer’s son, near that place, being at work in the harvest met with a litter of Mice. Recollecting that they had at home a Cat who just had Kittens, he put them into his pocket alive; and when he returned he immediately committed them to the Cat, who at that time hung up in a basket in the house. Soon after, when some of the family took down the basket in order to give milk to the Cat, as they occasionally did, it was observed that the Mice were alive, and drinking the Cat’s milk.

1797 - Sports & Recreation
RATS SUCKLED BY CAT.
The following circumstance is, however, still more extraordinary, and may be depended on as a fact. A Cat that had kittened in a barn at Horse-Lunges Farm, near Lewes, on having her brood taken from her, went in pursuit of them, but, instead of her Kittens, she found some young Rats, two of which, apparently not more than a day old, she brought to the place from which her young had been taken, and there suckled and defended them with as much care and tenderness as if they had been her Kittens. One of them lived only about two days; the other the Cat reared till it was able to run about, when one of the workmen, unknown to his master, killed it, to prevent its escape.

1804
Doctor Carradori, of Prato, in Tuscany, has observed lately two phenomena, from which the patients would not have failed to draw various inferences. The one is a Cat suckling a Mouse; the other, a Serpent with two heads. In a farm belonging to Signor Martini, a short distance from Prato, was found a nest of Mice. They carried them to the Cat, who had just kittened, and was nourishing her young. She devoured all the Mice but one, which she placed with her Kittens, and likewise gave it her teat. “I cannot (says Carradori) affirm that I saw this extraordinary production myself, because the Mouse had been dead some hours when I arrived at the place; but the master of the Cat, and the neighbors, all attested the truth of the fact”. They said also, that the Mouse, faithful to its instinct, kept away from the Cat, and endeavored to avoid her caresses; but that the Cat went after it, and brought it back to her young ones. One night the Cat went out of the house, and the Mouse, deprived of its aliment during a number of hours, was found dead the next morning.

Priscilla Wakefield - 1811
Cats seem particularly disposed to adopt the offspring of a stranger; but the most extraordinary instance that I heard, was related to me by a lady, who was an eye-witness of the fact.
Her Cat had a litter of Kittens, that were kept in a hamper in the cellar. In order to please her children, she one day went down to see them. On looking into the hamper, she found a young Rat among the Kittens, which she ordered to be taken out.
But the next day it was again found, a quiet inhabitant of the same place. And there was no doubt that the Cat suckled it, and was disposed to bring it up with her own family.

Spirit of the English magazines - 1829
"These extraordinary arrangements are sometimes the effects of accidents, and sometimes of the greater force of one instinct over the lesser force of nature ".
A Rat-catcher having caught a brood of young Rats alive, gave them to his Cat, who had just had her Kittens taken from her to be drowned.
A few days afterwards, he was surprised to find the Rats in the place of the drowned Kittens, being suckled by their natural enemy.
The Cat had a hatred for Rats, but she spared these young Rats to afford her the relief which she required as a mother".

The Friend, 1830
A Rat-Catcher having caught a brood of young Rats alive gave them to his Cat, who had just her Kittens taken from her to be drowned. A few days afterwards, he was surprised to find the Rats in the place of the drowned Kittens, being suckled by their natural enemy.

James Rennie - 1833
A more singular instance still is related by Mr. Broderip. "On the 27th of April, 1820, I saw a Cat giving suck to five young Rats and a Kitten; the Rats were about one-third grown. It was diverting to observe the complacency with which the young creatures sucked in the liberal stream, which the teats of their foster-mother supplied; and curious to see the prey cherished by the milk of the destroyer. The Cat paid the same maternal attentions to the young Rats, in licking them and dressing their fur, as she did to her Kitten, notwithstanding the great disparity of size. The man, who exhibited this phenomenon in the Strand, near Essex-street, said, that the Cat had kittened fourteen days ago, and at that time had three Kittens at her teats, when he found this nest of young Rats, which seemed a few days old, and turned them in at night to the Cat for her prey; in the morning he found the Kittens sharing the milk of their mother with the Rats. Two of the Kittens were afterwards destroyed, for fear of exhausting the Cat, by so numerous a family. The man said that the Cat was a good mouser; but admitted that he had taught her to abstain from white Mice, which he had been in the habit of keeping”.

Chambers' Edinburgh journal, Volume 3
Written by Robert Chambers, William Chambers
1835 - Edinburgh (Scotland)
A MOUSE SUCKLED BY A CAT.
A Cat belonging to Mr Smith, the respectable agent of the Earl of Lucan, at Laleham, is in the constant habit of taking her place on the rug before the parlor fire. She had been deprived of all her litter of Kittens but one, and her milk probably incommoded her. I mention this, in order to account in some degree for the following circumstance: One evening as the family were seated round the fire, they observed a Mouse make its way from the cupboard which was near the fireplace, and lay itself down on the stomach of the Cat, as a Kitten would do when the is going to suck. Surprised at what they saw, and afraid of disturbing the Mouse, which appeared to be full grown, they did not immediately ascertain whether it was in the act of sucking or not. After remaining with the Cat a considerable length of time, it returned to the cupboard. These visits were repeated on several other occasions, and were witnessed by many persons. The Cat not only appeared to reject the Mouse, but uttered that sort of greeting purr which the animal is so well known to make use of when she is visited by her Kitten. The Mouse had every appearance of being in the act of sucking the Cat; but such was its vigilance, that it retreated as soon as a hand was put out to take it up. When the Cat, after being absent, returned to the room, her greeting call was made, and the Mouse came to her. The attachment which existed between these two incongruous animals could not be mistaken, and it lasted sometime. The fate of the Mouse, like that of most pets, was a melancholy one. During the absence of its nurse, a strange Cat came into the room. The poor Mouse, mistaking her for its old friend and protector, ran out to meet her, and was immediately seized and slain before it could be rescued from her clutches. The grief of the foster mother was extreme. On returning to the parlor, she made her usual call, but no Mouse came to meet her. She was restless and uneasy, went mewing about the house, and showed her distress in the most marked manner. What rendered the anecdote I have been relating the more extraordinary, is the fact of the Cat being an excellent mouser, and that during the time she was showing so much fondness for the Mouse, she was preying upon others with the utmost avidity. She is still alive.
Jesse's Gleanings in Natural History

June 10, 1835 - Old Kent Road - Magazine of Natural History, Volume 9
A case in proof of this strong maternal feeling occurred in the stables of D. Stokes, Esq., a short time ago. As the groom was clearing away some rubbish from a corner of the hay-loft, he found a nest containing four young Rats, about three or four weeks old. He immediately took them down into the stable, to a favorite Cat, of known prowess, not only in killing Rats, but also of putting many of her ill-fated victims to a lingering death. The groom put the “young vermin” before the Cat, telling her to make a hearty breakfast of them, and immediately returned to the hay-loft. On his return to the stable, in about half an hour, neither puss nor the vermin were to be seen; he therefore though she had obeyed his orders, and dispatched her early meal.
Some hours afterwards, he was attracted to a corner of the stable by the soothing purr of his favorite Cat; and found her performing the duties of a mother to her foster brood, in a neatly formed nest, which she had constructed for them, and to wish she had conveyed them in his absence, and for which she evidenced the strongest attachment. It Is, however, but justice to say, that the Cat had had her litter of Kittens drowned about three weeks before this occurrence took place. Puss was not permitted to exercise her maternal duties longer that to gratify the curiosity of the neighbors.

1844 - Literary Criticism Portland Advertiser - Google Books.
A Rat Nursed By A Cat!
A gentleman of this city, upon whose veracity we can rely, informs us that he has a Cat which has recently fostered and nursed a large Rat with as much care as she would show towards her own offspring. She first brought it into his house about a fortnight ago, carrying it by the neck in the manner the Cats usually carry their Kittens. She seemed particularly anxious to shield it from harm, and finally carried it to a snag in one of the closets where she was accustomed to sleep, and laid down with it; the Rat all the while seeming to take her manoeuvres as coolly though they were in the common course of things. Curious to know how far she would carry her strange penchant, the gentleman pushed the Rat back into the middle of the room. Grimalkin was evidently displeased, and quickly returned it to her side, and showed it a deal of attention for two or three days, when our informant turned it out of the house. It has since, however, been seen in one of houses, playing with its strange nurse, as familiarly as a Kitten, and seems perfectly tamed and docile. This is the most famous departure from the usual order of nature that we have ever known.

Commercial Advertiser - Apalachicola, Saturday, May 16, 1846
RAT AND CAT ARTICLES
There is now to be seen at the shop of Mr. Eben Ames, on North Main Street, says the Providence Journal, one of the greatest natural curiosities we have heard of: a young Rat suckled by a Cat, together with four Kittens; the Kittens are about fifteen days old. On Thursday last, the old Cat left her Kittens for a foraging expedition on Canal Street; she soon returned, bearing in her mouth a young Wharf Rat, which she has ever since nursed and taken equal care of with her Kittens.

1849 - Juvenile Fiction, Google Books
A Cat Nursing Mice - A Cat with a brood of Kittens in the family of Mr. Graham of Woodbury, in this state, recently adopted two young Mice into their circle. One of them died soon after, but the other continues to enjoy maternal care and social affection. "The Constitution" says: the Mouse is two-thirds grown and entirely tame. It was very active, running about fearlessly, and permitting the children to take it into their hands and pet it. If it runs away, or Pussy miss it, she leaves her Kits and goes after it, mewing till she finds it, when she brings it carefully back. She is very uneasy when it leaves her. When the Kittens suck, the Mouse being too short to reach the milk, mounts on the back of the Kittens and is thus enabled to lay hold, and draws its share of nourishment from its adoptive mother, with the entire confidence of all concerned.
A similar case was recently reported by a Cincinnati paper... A Cat in Mr. Bigelow's family, having been deprived of 5 of 6 Kittens, was found soon after nursing three young Rats with her own solitary offspring. All alike enjoying her care.

William Kidd - 1852
A Cat nursing three Rats and two Kittens
Our young readers do not need to be reminded perhaps that Cats have often been known to rear strange children. The following instance, which though but lately made public, occurred a few years ago, in one of the most remarkable stories of a foster family that we are aware of. A Cat kept in a stable to catch Rats, and excellent at the business, gave birth to five Kittens, three of which were at once drowned. A stall in the stable had been set apart for her use, and the next morning she brought into it three young Rats, which she nursed along with the two surviving Kittens. A few days later these Kittens were killed, and the next day puss fetched two more young Rats. A board had been fixed at the end of the stall to prevent the Rats from escaping. As soon as the Cat jumped over the board and lay down for the purpose, her singular family ran to her and took their refreshment. It may be mentioned that this story is well authenticated.

Zanesville Courier, November 13, 1852
(Part of the note, very hard to guess what says here).
The Cat, a fine animal, was in the stables of the Shrewsbury and Birmingham Railway Station where she gave birth to five Kittens but some of these were drowned.
The disconsolate mother finding her family reduced discovered a Rat's nest, killed the parent and five of the young ones appropriating to herself those that were left.
These she conveyed to her own bed, suckled them and brought them up. All this curious lot is now to be seen in one cage happy.
Story:

Gilbert White. The natural history and antiquities of Selborne - 1853
"On the 28th of April, 1820", writes Mr. Broderip in "Zoological Journal", "I saw a Cat giving suck to five young Rats and a Kitten. The Cat paid the same maternal attention to the young Rats in licking them and dressing their fur as she did to her Kitten, notwithstanding the great disparity in size".

Ballou's dollar monthly magazine, Volume 3
1856 - Language Arts & Disciplines
A gentleman in Buckingham comity, Virginia, has among his domestic animals a large Rat, which was caught twelve months ago by a Cat; but instead of devouring it, the Cat nursed and fed it, and they now play and sleep together like Cat and Kitten.

Lloyds Weekly Newspaper, May 25, 1856
A CAT SUCKLING A RAT
There is to be seen at the distillery of Glen Grant a Cat giving suck to a young Rat and nursing it as one of her own offspring.
Some days ago the workmen discovered  nest of Rats and placed all the young
Ones on the top of a cask. Pussy eyeing them, pounced on them and began the work of destruction; but, perhaps, calling to remembrance that peace had been proclaimed, she instantly stopped the work of death to make amends for what she had done and she has adopted the surviving one, and is paying all attention to it as one of her young.

H. G. M. Williams, Creek House, near Cheeptow, Aug. 27, 1857
Young Water Rat suckled by a Cat
On the 16th of last June I found, in a Willow's stump, the nest of a Water Rat, containing four young Water Rats, quite blind. One of them I flung into the water, and although blind it swam to land. I kept one and killed the rest. I took the one who was alive to a Cat who had kittened the day before, and put it on the ground. The Cat immediately jumped out of the basket, and returned to it with the Rat in her mouth. The next day, in order to see which of the Kittens should be killed, I found to my surprise, the Cat suckling the Rat and two Kittens. I had three of the Kittens killed, and kept the other with the Rat. On the 23rd of the same month the Rat's eyes opened, and from that time I had much difficulty in catching it, as it got quite wild, but was still suckled by the Cat. When I took the Rat away the Cat followed me, and directly I put it down she would take it in her mouth and carry it back. In the beginning of July I found the Rat dead in the nest. What the cause of his death was I cannot say, but there were no marks upon it to show that the Cat had killed it. The most extraordinary circumstance is that the Cat suckled it before she had her Kittens taken away.

The Rat: its history & destructive character, James Rodwell - 1858
At Rochester, some few years ago, a singular incident occurred. The Landlords of the Office Tavern had a beautiful Tortoiseshell Cat, the admiration of everyone who came to the house. One day she kittened, and all the Kittens were drowned. The poor Cat felt the loss of her sucklings, and was whining and mewing all over the place in evident distress, but no notice was taken of her. But some few days after, some of the children came across her nest, and saw her in the act of suckling what they thought to be a young Kitten. They mentioned the circumstance at the dinner table, and were laughed at for their trouble; but upon their insisting on the fact, or created some curiosity, and a search was the result, when, to their great surprise, they found the Cat suckling not a Kitten, but a young Rat!
Now it was clear that the poor Cat had been in extreme pain for an overcharge of milk, and meeting with the young Rat, had fondled it up, and from its giving her ease by drawing her milk, her attachment had grown as strong for the Rat as for one of her own progeny, which was afterwards manifested to the great delight of numerous customers. If a strange Dog came in the house, she would defend the Rat with all the vicious determination of her nature; and even after he had grown up a fine, strong fellow, he would in time of danger run to her for protection. This curious circumstance spread far and wide, and proved a great attraction for the house. For the Rat was as tame as a Kitten, and would allow any of the children or the customers to nurse and play with him.
But, however, to the great sorrow of the landlords and their patrons, a traveler one day called and, in the absence of the Cat, his Dog killed poor Master Rat. This was not only a pitiable affair, but a great loss to the landlords; for there is no doubt but many a man has made his fortune by a far less pleasing and remarkable phenomenon of nature.

At the railway stables of Wolverhampton, there was a Cat which had a litter of five Kittens. Three of the Kittens were drowned shortly after their birth, and the Cat seemed much distressed at their disappearance. She soon after, however, discovered a Rat's nest with a large litter of young ones, upon which she killed the old Rat and all the litter but three, which she carried to her own nest, and suckled them with her own remaining two Kittens.

The children's picture - book of quadrupeds: and other mammalia John George Wood - 1861
"She has been known to supply the loss of her Kittens by the young of other animals; and cases are known of young Hares and Puppies having been reared by Cats. On one occasion, a Rat-catcher threw to a Cat who had lost her Kittens some young Rats, and instead of tearing them to pieces she took them under her care and brought up the whole brood; and the Cat, with her strange progeny, was publicly exhibited".

Mary Howitt - 1862
This occurred at the house of a Mr. James Greenfield in Maryland, North America. The Cat had Kittens; and probably hunting for Mice, either to amuse them or for her own dinner, she carried in a young Rat, which from one cause or another wasn't only not killed among them, but found itself so much at home that when the little ones went to suck it did the same. The servants, being witnesses of this strange fact, went to inform their master and he ordered the Rat and the Kittens to be carried downstairs and laid on the floor. The mother followed them as she was sure to do, licked them all over and then was allowed to carry them away, which she did in her mouth, treating the Rat with just as much tenderness as the Kittens.
(Image a little upwards through this URL:

Some years ago, a young Rat was found suckling from a Cat along with the Kittens.

Patriot, May 24, 1866
http://newspaperarchive.com/patriot/1866-05-24/page-14?tag=cat+suckles+rats&rtserp=tags/cat-suckles-rats
The Westmoreland Gazette states that in a house at Moulds Meaburn a Cat is suckling three Rats. Her own Kittens had been thrown into the river.
Next morning the Rats were found in their places; where they came from is a mystery.
The Cat watches over and suckles the Rats as affectionately as her own.

Daily Southern Cross, 1868
A rather curious circumstance bearing upon the natural history f the Cat and Mouse  has lately occurred at the house of a farmer at Papatoetoe, and has been observed by a number of persons. A female Cat, suckling a Kitten, has adopted a full grown Mouse, which nestles under and sucks her, and remains with the Kitten in her absence.
When the Mouse is taken out of the box in which they are kept and laid down before the Cat, she takes it up gently in the same manner as she does the Kitten, and carries it back again.
Not only is the Mouse perfectly reconciled to its change of circumstances and thoroughly tamed, but the fact of its adoption appears to be recognized by another Cat in the establishment, which, when the Mouse is brought to it, merely looks at it and turns away.

The Connersville Examiner - August 19, 1868
A Cat with a litter of Kittens and Rats
A few days since a favorite feline belonging to one of the “household gods” of Mr. Feldman, who resides on De Sota, near Monroe Street, became the parent of a litter new to Catdom. The progeny comprises seven, four of which are Kittens, and three, marvelous as it may appear, are Rats! Both Kittens and Rats are of the usual size. Nine days not having elapsed, the eyes of the former are still closed; but the latter are wide awake, and lively as Crickets. All play together as though their Ratship is veritable Kittens, and are suckled at the same time. Unt Tabby bestows as much attention as on the Rats as on the little creatures formed in her own image, and it is fair presume that the young Norwegians imagine themselves first class Kittens.

Thursday, February 17 - 1876
A curiosity in natural history can be witnessed at the residence of Mr. Fisher, Hokitika, in the shape of a Cat suckling a young Rat in company with her two Kittens.

CAT SUCKLING A RAT. - Manawatu Times, Volume II, Issue 94
12 September, 1877
An old friend, Mr John Stuart, of Helensbrough, sends us a letter this week, from which we take the following: There was a strange thing brought to my notice the other night when passing my friend. He called me to see what he had got in a barrel; and on looking in, there was a Cat with two Kittens and a young Rat suckling. Mr. M. says the Cat allows it to play with her like one of her own Kittens. The strange thing is that, not only is this Cat known all round as one of the most determined ratters about the town, but only the day before she killed (as is believed) this very young Rat's father and mother, and four of the family but this one she took to her nest beside her Kittens. The Rat has now been five days with the Cat, and she must have been suckling it most of the time, or it would have died before this time, as it cannot get away to get anything.

Nyack, June 1, 1878
THE ROCKLAND COUNTY JOURNAL
A Rat Nursed by a Cat
A correspondent writes from Meriden, Conn., to The Turf: We have something in the shape of a local curiosity, or, it would be more proper to state, a specimen of animal instinct for once overcome. A certain storekeeper, a dealer in newspapers, confectionery, etc., had a Cat that had a small Kitten. When this Kitten was about two weeks old, a young Rat, also of about the same age, was brought into the store for the old Cat to eat for her dinner; but instead of eating it, she took it in her mouth and carried it to the nest of her Kitten and left it there. Young Mr. Rat seemed to like his new quarters well as he nestled by the Kitten. The old Cat continued to nurse both Kitten and Rat, and the three lived in contentment. The little Rat went out of the nest once during last week, but returned of his own accord. The owner had a wire cage built for the trio to inhabit, which was convenient for all. But the door to the cage was narrow, and as the Cat and Rat attempted to come out together the other day, the little Rat was squeezed to death. So Mr. Rat was cast away, and for two days the old Cat mewed and smelt around for her lost protégé.

Intellect in Brutes
Dudgeon, P. Nature, Volume 20, Issue 499, pp. 77
1879
Some years ago the late Hon. Marmaduke Maxwell, of Terregles, took me to his stable to show me a Cat which was at the time bringing up a family of young Rats. The Cat some weeks previously had a litter of five Kittens, three were taken away and destroyed shortly after their birth; next day it was found that the Cat had replaced her lost Kittens by three young Rats which she nursed with the two remaining Kittens; a few days afterwards the two Kittens were taken away, and the Cat very shortly replaced them by two more young Rats, and at the time I saw them, the young Rats -which were confined in an empty stall- were running about quite briskly, and about one-third grown.
The Cat happened to be out when we went into the stable, but came in before we left; she immediately jumped over the board into the stall, and lay down; her strange foster family at once ran under her and commenced sucking. What renders the circumstance more extraordinary is, that the Cat was kept in the stable as a particularly good ratter.

Brookfield, NY Courier, 1882
Young Rats Nursed by a Cat.
A few years ago, when visiting a neighbor's house, it was mentioned in the course of conversation that there was a singular case of a Cat having adopted children from a nest of one of her natural victims. On my expressing a wish to witness this phenomenon, I was at once taken to the stable yard, and there shown a fine female Cat nursing a family composed of two Kittens and two handsome young Rats, the whole four living in perfect harmony.
On my inquiring the history of this remarkable group, I was informed by the coachman in charge that shortly after the Cat mother had given birth to a litter of Kittens she had been deprived by him of all but three. The mother evidently did not approve of this reduction in her family, became restless for a time, and, on her again settling down, it was discovered she had replaced one of her murdered children by a fine young Rat. Seeing this, and knowing that Rats were too numerous to please the gamekeeper, the coachman determined to destroy one of the three remaining Kittens, which was done.
On the following morning the coachman, on visiting the Cat's nursery, was not a little surprised to discover that the mother, in lieu of her murdered offspring had introduced into her nursery a second young Rat. The two Kittens, in company with the two Rats, had been impartially nursed, and were, when I saw them, living in perfect harmony. They were at that time about two months old, and were residing together in an old wine case, with a piece of wire netting thrown over the top. The young Rats were pretty looking, sleek creatures, with bright brown eyes, and evidently well nourished. They were, however, of different dispositions, for while the one would with confidence return the visitor's gaze, the other disliked being looked at by strangers, and would on the approach of the latter make rather frantic endeavors to conceal itself among the fur of its foster mother.
This story has a sad ending (not because the Cat suddenly killed her new babies), and I didn't want to bring it here.




November 17, 1883 – The Record Union from Sacramento, California
Rats Nursed by a Cat.
Our young readers do not need to be reminded perhaps that Cats have often been known to rear strange children. The following instance -which though but lately made public, occurred a few years ago- is one of the most remarkable stories of a foster family that we are aware of. A Cat kept in a stable to catch Rats, and excellent at the business, gave birth to five Kittens, three of which were at once drowned. A stall in the stable had been set apart for her use, and the next morning she brought into it three young Rats, which she nursed along with the two surviving Kittens. A few days later these Kittens were killed, and the next day puss fetched two more young Rats. A board had been fixed at the end of the stall to prevent the Rats from escaping. As soon as the Cat jumped over the board and lay down for the purpose, her singular family ran to her and took their refreshment. It may be mentioned that this story is well authenticated.


26 July, 1884
A Cat Nurses Rats.
A few years ago, when visiting at a neighbors house, it was mentioned in the course of conversation that there was then on the premises a singular case of a cat having adopted children from a nest of one of her natural victims. On my expressing a wish to witness this phenomenon, I was at once, taken to the stable yard, and there shown a fine female Cat nursing a family composed of two Kittens and two handsome young Rats, the whole four living in perfect harmony. On my inquiring the history of this remarkable group, I was informed by the coachman-in-charge that shortly after the cat mother had given birth to a litter of Kittens, she had been deprived by him of all three. The mother evidently did not approve of this reduction in her family and became restless for a time and on her again settling down, it was discovered she had replaced one of her murdered children by a fine young Rat. Seeing this, and knowing that Cats were too numerous to please the gamekeeper the coachman determined to destroy one of the remaining three Kittens, which was done. On the following morning, the coachman, on visiting the Cat's nursery, was not a little surprised to discover that the mother, in lieu of her murdered offspring, had introduced into her nursery a second young Rat.
The two Kittens, in company with the two Rats, had been impartially nursed, and were, when I saw them, living in perfect harmony. They were at that time about two months. old and were residing together in an old wine-case, with a piece of wire-netting thrown over the top. The young Rats were pretty-looking, sleek creatures, with bright brown eyes, and evidently well nourished. They were however of different dispositions. I for whilst the one would in confidence return the visitors gaze, the other disliked being looked at by strangers, and I would, on then approach, of the latter make rather frantic endeavors to conceal itself among the fur of its foster-mother".
I afterwards knew, l regret to say, that the family party was broken up in an abrupt and unsatisfactory manner. The friendly coachman had left his situation: the Cat mother had given way to some poaching proclivities, and doing nocturnal rabble had been caught and killed in one of the gamekeeper's traps. The Kittens and young Rats were thereafter thrown friendless on the world, and left no trace behind them.

Ashburton Guardian
Putanga 2094, 22 Poutiterangi, 1889
Page 2
A Queer Family - A peculiar freak of nature is now, we (Press) understand, to be seen at the Wellington Meat Export Company Freezing Works, Waterloo Quay, in the shape of a Cat suckling two young Rats and two Kittens. We hear it is the intention of the engineer in charge of the establishment to have a case made for the family so as to see what will be the end of the unnatural motherly affection on the part of the Cat when the Rats grow to an eatable size.

Image from a book - Yellow domestic Cat mothering one Kitten and five baby Muskrats. Courtesy of Stanley C. Arthur Group in Milwaukee Museum, by Carl Akeley, 1890

Syracuse Herald, August 17, 1890
Rats Suckled By a Cat
Wilmington JT C - Star
Mr Charles Watson at his store of a Eighth and Chestnut streets has a Cat that is suckling two young Rats with her three Kittens.
About a week or ten days ago Mr Watson found a Rat's nest.
He took two and put them down before the mother Cat so that she would devour them but the Cat took them suddenly in her mouth cue at a time and placed them inn box where she had her two Kittens
and has since been suckling them. A few days later she moved her family from the box to a room upstairs but afterward brought them all back to their old bed in the box.
The Rats are growing finely and the Cat does not to distinguish the difference between them and her Kittens. In all other respects has an excellent reputation and is said to be a splendid mouser.

San Francisco Call - April 4, 1892
A HAPPY FAMILY.
A Community of Rats and Cats Living With A Bull Pup.
In the window of the saloon at 268 Pacific Street may be seen one of the most singular happy families in the city. It consists of an old motherly Cat, five Kittens about a month old, a pair of large white Rats, 12 young Rats, a Bull pup and a pair of wicked-looking Norway Rats that were caught recently on the Lombard Street wharf.
The old Cat nurses the young rodents just as she does her own offspring, and the entire collection, with the exception of the Bull pup, crawl over and around her as if the Cat was their best friend. The old Rats make a bed of the Cat, and may be seen, sound sleep, half buried in the soft, warm fur on the Cat's back, while the young Rats and Kittens are all mixed up beside her.
The strange friendship began when pussy was looking about for a quiet corner in which to give birth to her offspring. The Rats had been given the freedom of the saloon, and the cage in which they had their nest was always open. The place suited pussy to a nicety, for she at once made herself at home, and is now looked up to by all as the protector and head of the family.
The wharf Rats were at first Inclined to resent the advances of the albinos and the Kittens, but pussy soon taught them that the young things were not to be molested, and in a few days they got used to the new order of things, and are now two of the most docile members of the strange community. The pup regards the Kittens and Rats with a look of disdain, and holds himself aloft as If of a superior cast.

Indiana Progress, July 13, 1892
http://newspaperarchive.com/indiana-progress/1892-07-13?tag=rats+adopted+cat&rtserp=tags/rats-adopted-cat
Young Rats Adopted by a Cat
Brainard Ives, the Mount Cannel stage driver, has a Cat that has recently shown most remarkable eccentricities.
A short time ago the Cat became the mother of several Kittens. A day or so later while prowling about in the barn she came across a nest of young Rats which numbered three.
Instead of killing and eating them as might be supposed the Cat would do she carried them to her own nest and placed them with her young Kittens nursing them as she did her own offspring.
Ever since the Kittens and Rats have remained together and are thriving splendidly. The Rats have just begun to open their eyes while the Kittens are somewhat older and have been able to see.



San Francisco Call, Number 1, 1 June 1895
A Rat's Cat Mother.
Joshua Slifer of Bolivar, in the Middletown Valley, Frederick County, has a Cat which is at present nursing a young Rat as carefully as if it were one of her own offspring. The Cat has two Kittens, and one day she killed an old Rat and then caught a young one and carried it alive to her nest, presumably for the Kittens to eat. Instead of devouring it, however, the Kittens made friends with the stranger, and since then the old mother Cat has treated the Rat as if it were one of the family. Strange to say, the Rat refuses to leave the Kittens, even when the old Cat goes away. The Cat fondles and nurses the Rat in the most natural manner. A day or two ago one Kitten was seen at a rear teat and the other at the front, while the Rat was in the middle, pulling away for dear life, and the old Cat as unconcerned as if nothing unusual was going on. 


The New York Public Library - 28 / 6 / 1895
A Cat Nurses Rats - Curious Happy Family In An Uptown Broadway Store
In an uptown Broadway store a large black Tabby Cat with not a single white hair in her coat is nursing a litter of four black Kittens as sable as she is.
In the box where the mother and her children are taking life easy five large white Rats are running over one another disputing claims to maternal founts of sustenance.
A perfect family peace exists between the mixed relations. Whether the young Cats will get away with the old Rats or the old Rats with the young Cats remains to be seen.

The Judd translation of this classic by Wundt - Outlines of psychology
Many animals will hatch any kind of eggs placed under them, or rear the young of other animals; thus a hen has been induced to brood over young Weasels, and a Cat suckled young Rats in the place of the Kittens she had lost.

San Francisco Call, number 1, 1 June 1895
A Rat's Cat Mother.
Joshua Slifer of Bolivar, in the Middletown Valley, Frederick County, has a Cat which is at present nursing a young Rat as carefully as if it were one of her own offspring. The Cat has two Kittens, and one day she killed an old Rat and then caught a young one and carried it alive to her nest, presumably for the Kittens to eat. Instead of devouring it, however, the Kittens made friends with the stranger, and since then the old mother Cat has treated the Rat as ii it were one of the family. Strange to say, the Rat refuses to leave the Kittens, even when the old Cat goes away. The Cat fondles and nurses the Rat in the most natural manner. A day or two ago one kitten was seen at a rear teat and the other at the front, while the Rat was in the middle, pulling away for dear life, and the old Cat as unconcerned as if nothing unusual was going on.

Advance Argus, May 27, 1897
NKW - Miss Helen Burnett has one of the most curious families.
About two weeks ago her brother gave the mother Cat two young Rats for her dinner.
instead of eating them she gathered them up and carried them in with her Kittens and has since cared for them just like her own. The young Rats are thriving and the family present a very laughable appearance.

Evening Post, 8 January 1898
In a workman's room at Parkhead, Glasgow, in November of last year, anyone might have seen a Cat nursing a young Rat with three of her own Kittens. The Kittens of a Cat belonging to Mr. Mc. Farlane of Woodside, near Coupar Angus, had been killed by a Dog. The bereaved mother forthwith collected five young Mice and lavished them upon the milk and affection for which her maternal feelings compelled her to find an outlet.

Reading Eagle - July 14, 1899
Rat adopted by a Cat
Through her training he has become the best mouser at Steuben, Maine.
Forbes Baker, of this village, has one of the most remarkable mousers in the country in a trained Rat. Having driven all the Rats and Mice from his own premises the Rat is now doing odd jobs for the neighbors.
This Rat's odd propensities are no doubt due to the influence of his adopted mother -a big Maltese Cat owned by Mr. Baker and rated the best mouser in Steuben.
Last winter she gave birth to Kittens. One day she came upon a young Rat and took him to her Kittens. Mr. Baker supposed that she intended to give her young ones their first lesson in the art of Rat killing; but the old Cat had no such intention, for instead of offering to injure the helpless creature, or allowing the Kittens to do so, she adopted the Rat and made him a useful factor in her household. The Kittens, too, seemed to take to the Rat and as the Rat grew apace with them, they accepted him as a brother, and were contented.
When later, the mother Cat began to teach her children to catch Mice and Rats, as a means of livelihood the Rat entered with much spirit into the game. Finally the old Cat saw that her adopted child was about the most ardent rodent hunter of the lot, despite his ancestry, and she seemed satisfied and at once sent them out to make their own way in the world.
Mr. Baker disposed of the Kittens, but kept the Rat, now full grown. The Rat has since waged a merciless war on the whole Rat kingdom in Steuben. He still follows the old Cat about the house, and the two are as attached as mother and child.

The Post Express - August 12, 1899
Even more extraordinary is the aberration of a respectable and hitherto trustworthy English Cat. It is recorded that, having lost her Kittens, she caught a young Rat, which, instead of killing, she immediately took to her bereft bosom, and, at last accounts, was bringing up.

CAT ADOPTED TWO RATS - 1899-09-08
Curious Action by the household pets at the home of Mr. George Lyon of West Eldorado street. A Cat of the Maltese variety female that has been acting curiously of late.
It has always been supposed that a Cat hates a Rat naturally and eternally. But this Cat is an exception.
She had been bereft of all but one and since then she marched up to the house carrying in mouth her one Kitten and two half grown Rats.
The family left her alone for a while to see what she would do. She suckled those Rats and cuddled them just as she did the Kittens.
No partiality was shown and they appeared to thrive and to be well satisfied with their adopted mother.
Story:

Los Angeles Times - April 4, 1901
Maltese Cat adopts and nurses ten baby Rats
Story:
(Maybe someday the story will shine here, instead of the URL…)

HAMMONTON, 3ST. J., JULY 13, 1901
MICE ADOPTED BY A CAT
Three of Them Take the Place of Kittens that met untimely death.
Kate, the little striped Cat that has been a pet at the Louisville (Ky.) Union Station for the last year, has been tenderly caring for an adopted family consisting of three Mice. The little Cat was picked up on the street about a year ago by Night Watchman Timmons.
Since then she has been the common property of every one at the station. She is unusually small for a mature Cat.
About two weeks ago Kate had her first family of Kittens and she was very proud of them. While she was out foraging a stray Dog happened in and when Kate got back she found only the lifeless remains of her little family left. She gave many signs of her grief for about a week. Then some of the workmen at the station who were tearing up the floor uncovered a nest of Mice. The old Mouse was killed and Kate was called to make a rich meal of the three Mice that were left. She answered the call of the men, smelled the tiny black Mice, and rolled them tenderly about in their nest.
Then, one at a time, she lifted them and carried them, carefully into the baggage-room. The adopted ones were deposited In Kate's basket in the baggage-room, where they remained ever since.
The Cat seems to take as much pride in the Mice as she did in her Kittens, and spends most of her time nursing and licking them.

Daily Iowa State Press - 09-26-1901
Louisville reports a Cat that has adopted Mice babies in the nest. The Cat Kate, a little striped mouser that has been a pet at the Tenth Street Union station for a year past. Two weeks ago Kate had her first family of Kittens. A Dog killed them all during her absence, and her mother heart was sad. Just then some of the workmen about the station, tearing up a portion of the floor, uncovered a nest of Mice. They killed the mother Mouse and called Kate to feast upon the three tiny Mice babies in the nest. Perhaps she was thinking of her own recent loss. At any rate she lifted the wee Mice one at a time and carried them carefully into the baggage room and placed them in her basket, where they have since remained. Kate is apparently as proud of her adopted children as she could have been of her own, but the railroad men predict that when the foundlings grow large enough to leave they will desert Kate for their own free life.

Statesville Landmark, June 13, 1902
A Cat and Rat Waxhaw Correspondence
Everybody knows that Cats are fond of babies, but a case of one bereft mother Cat's unusual fondness for them is reported from Minera this week.
Mr. Robt Winchester's children recently found a litter of young Rats and took them to the house; they placed them in an improvised nest to try to raise them.
An old mother Cat soon discovered and took up with them.
She carried them away to the bed as she would but carried her own where she suckled and raised them until they were large enough to run off and leave her and look out for them.

Logansport Journal - April 3, 1903
Cat nurses her three children, and... (you better see it for yourself).
RICHMOND - April W. Miles, a farmer on the Middleboro Pike, four miles north of here, tells a story of a Cat that is nursing three Kittens and eleven young Rats. Mr Miles says the Cat is not partial in her motherly care. While making an excavation near his barn a few days ago, the farmer dug into a Rat’s nest. In the barn not far away was the Cat with her Kittens hardly twenty four hours old in a box. Mr Miles took the Rats to the barn and placed them near the box. The mother Cat showed interest at once and lifting one Rat in her teeth helped it into the box with the Kittens. In a short time she had taken charge of all the strangers. The Cat has no trouble in watching over her nursery and Mr Miles is wondering what she will do with the Rats when they open their eyes and begin to show traits of their species.

Syracuse Sunday Herald - May 3, 1903
Cat brings up a family of Rats with her Kittens
(Story and picture):

NEW YORK DAILY TRIBUNE. SUNDAY. JUNE 21, 1903
CAT ADOPTS YOUNG RATS.
Four weeks ago a Cat, the property of Hans Hansen, a grocer of Muskegon, Mich., gave birth to a litter of Kittens. Mr. Hansen. who is as well known in Muskegon as a power in the ward in which he lives as Squire McMullen was ever known in Philadelphia, was making some alterations in his store, and three days after three Kittens were born the laborers who were excavating for a cellar foundation discovered a nest of young Rats, whose mother had evidently been frightened away from them by the onslaught of the shovellers. The men decided that the young Rats would make a nutritious feed for the mother Cat, and, collecting them, they carried the vermin to the empty bin in the store where the Cat and her little family were housed. The Rats were thrown in and the feelings of the onlookers can be better imagined than described when they saw the Cat lick and pet the little animals instead of making an onslaught on them. Up to the present writing the Cat has faithfully and jealously guarded and nursed the young Rats, and it is a noticeable and peculiar met that the whole nature of the Rats appears to differ from that of their progenitors. They play and frisk with the Kittens and jump all over the back of the old mother, who play, with them. It is truly a happy family. When the news of the peculiar case became bruited abroad crowds flocked to Mr. Hansen's Store to see the animals. Those who saw, told other doubting Thomases, and they also inspected, going away wondering.
The great Interest now is to find out whether the family will continue to live in harmony. Despite the peculiar makeup of her family the Cat continues to retain her well earned reputation as a ratter. She has killed many vermin since she adopted the Rats. (Philadelphia Press).

Nelson Evening Mail, 20 October, 1904
Cats are supposed to be the natural enemies of Rats, but in Auckland just now there's a Cat who has actually breastfed two of these rodents when two of the litter had been destroyed. The mother seemed perfectly satisfied with her new children and the Rats apparently flourished under their strange mother, for they were in excellent condition when found.

The North Western Advocate and the Emu Bay Times Wednesday 8 March, 1905
CAT SUCKLING A RAT!
On Sunday several residents, including Sub-Inspector Palmer and Police Constable Montgomery, witnessed a sight that is of sufficiently rare occurrence to be chronicled. On certain premises not very far from the police court they saw a Cat suckling a Kitten and a Rat! Contrary to nature the small rodent was taking its share just as easily and comfortably as the Kitten, and although the Rat was held up to the Cat so that she might see it, yet she disdained the idea that she did not know of its existence and allowed it to resume sucking. The prophecy of the Lion and Lamb lying down together has, therefore, been anticipated by such enemies as the Cat and Rat being found on such familiar and friendly terms. It is surmised that the young Rat has been brought to the Kitten 'by its mother and after a time partaking of the same smell as her own progeny, was allowed to obtain nourishment with the Kitten'. By Monday morning, however, the Rat had disappeared, and it is supposed that a Terrier on the premises devoured it.

The Times, Treherne - Manitoba - 8 / 24 / 1906
Cat suckles Rat
When a Cat and a Rat lie down together, their relative positions are ordinarily those of the Lion and the Lamb - The Rat, in other words, is inside the feline. That preoccupied look of happiness, supplemented by an occasional purr, which is so often observed in the case of somnolently lazy pussies is often the result, naturalists say, of a juicy Rat in kitty's digestive apparatus. Most Toronto Cats love Rats in just that way for the sake of the loaves and the fishes as it were. There is one at Michie and Co.'s on King Street which enjoys the distinction of being different, says The Toronto Star. She is suckling a young Rat, and whether she is raising it for benevolent purposes remains to be seen. Perhaps she is merely an unusually wise Cat, and is raising the little rodent simply with an eye to a future repast. This theory must give place, for the present, to some warping of the mother instinct, so strong in all animals, which has included a very lively Rat in the comradeship of five very black and, as yet, helpless Kittens.
When a policeman at the corner of King and Yonge streets handed a young Rat to Mr. Joe Wilson. of Mlchies. a few days ago, he did not know that he was starting a romance In animal life, which may end in a tragedy soon. Mr, Wilson, mind full of a Cat at the store which had become the mother of five kittens. as black as herself, took the gift In good part.
He duly presented the Rat to Mrs Tabby.
There are no records extant relating to the siege of Paris which give the opinion at the rat-eaters of that period as to the comparatlve juiciness of young and old Rats, It would naturally be thought that a Rat so young and tender as the one which Mr. Wilson handed to the Cat would be a morsel particularly tempting to anything with an appetite for Mus Decumanus. which Is what the scientists say.
The Cat received the Rat without the usual licking of lips. In fact she slobbered the youngster over. as it was her own offspring, which found no trouble In making room for their much smaller comrades. The Rat, for its part, not having learned the ABC of life from its people at home, snuggled down in its new nest and partook of the same refreshment as was afforded the little black Kittens.
It has been wisely said that parental favoritism Is the ruination of many a home.
Among animals, though, the mother is often observed to deal most kindly with her weakest offspring, and to take especial precautions to guard It from danger, This may explain why the tabby at Michie's apparently regards the Rat as the darIing of her heart. Cats do not approve of the too frequent visits of blundering humans to their homes. and Mrs. Tabby has shown her disapproval at this by moving her family three times, Her favoritism towards the Rat. which she evidently thinks her smallest and weakest charge, was noticed the first time she moved.
She was noticed by Mr. Wilson running off to the coal bin with the Rat In her mouth, "Now" said he, "It's all up with the Rat."He was wrong, She was merely moving It before she moved the other occupants of her first home.
She followed with them, one by one and set up housekeeping in the coal bin.

Chronicle, Adelaide, SA - Saturday 12 October 1907
NATURAL ENEMIES RECONCILED.
A correspondent to 'Country Life in America' for August writes: 'While our old gray and white Cat was attending the needs of two Kittens, a young wood Rat was found in a Squirrel’s nest in the woods near our house. We placed the Rat near the Cat but she was in a placid and motherly frame of mind and did not harm it. She sniffed at it enquiringly several times, and once or twice we saw her washing its mat as it it were one of her Kittens. For a few days the Rat nursed with the Kittens, but soon became too old and preferred his food in other forms. He still remained a friend of the family, however. The pictures were obtained with great difficulty, as the Rat was a very lively little fellow and did not wish to pose for his portrait.
(Pictures…)

The evening world. (New York, N.Y.)
February 14, 1908
CAT MOTHERS FAMILY OF SIX YOUNG RATS - YORK
In defiance of all natural instinct a house Cat on the farm of Joseph McDonald in Lower Windsor Township hills county has for the past week been mothering a family of six young Rats. One day last week the farmer honed a bin in his barn and a big Rat scampered out in a corner. It left six tiny young and for extermination McDonald tossed his house Cat to them. He was astonished to see the animal at once curl her body in a protecting manner about the shivering little creatures. Many of the neighbors came to witness the unusual sight until the Cat for the safety of the litter carried them one by one in her mouth to a more secluded part of the barn. Farmer McDonald secured a club and killed them.

The Spokeman Review - April 29, 1908
Mother Cat nurses Mouse
Rushville, Ind., April 22. - Mrs. Hatfield, proprietor of the Main Street house, has four new boarders. They came about three weeks ago and when the facts in the case are heralded up and down this broad land, back will come the cry of “nature fakers”. Fourteen days ago three Kittens were born to the office Cat there and a box was prepared for them on the rear porch.
The second morning after they were placed there one of the domestics was surprised to find a Mouse about three inches in length huddled up with the Kittens. She hurriedly called Mrs. Hatfield and when they returned they were treated to the sight of seeing the visitor eating at the same table with the three Kittens.
Since that time the Mouse has lived with the Kittens, playing with them in their frolics and seemingly enjoying the same board. It is now a full-fledged member of the family and the mother Cat watches and guards jealously over every move it makes.
Whenever anyone comes around the mother will cover up her little ones, including the Mouse, and offers it the same protection as her own.

Citizen (Berea, Ky.): Thursday, July 2, 1908.
"A story from York, Pa. about the Cat mothering a family of six Rats makes the most prominent members of Nature Fakers organization look like tyros".

MARGARETVILLE, FRIDAY APRIL, 1909
Strange Freak of a Cat. William McDonald of Davenport has a freak, in the nature of an adopted Rat by one of his Cats, About three weeks ago the Cat gave birth to four Kittens and, in a few days, one died. Last week the Cat caught a young Rat and has adopted it, the Rat nursing the Cat the same as its three little brother or sister Kittens.

Hopkinsville Kentuckian - July 22, 1909
MATERNAL INSTINCTS
Cat Adopts Rat to Take Place of One of Her Litter
St Louis Mo., July 19
To fill a vacancy in her litter one of which 1 died, an old black Cat owned by George Link adopted a big Rat about the size of the Kittens. Whether by coercion, love or force, the Rat is making itself at home in the little family and plays about with the Kittens under the watchful eye of mamma Cat.

The Evening News - Jul. 23, 1909
Cat adopts white Rat
Greensburg, Ind. July 23. Ed Hamilton, living north of this city, has a Maltese Cat that adapts herself to circumstances when dealing with Rats. The Cat is a good ratter, having killed hundreds in her six years of life.
A few days ago she gave birth to seven Kittens and Ed killed all but one. Mrs. Hamilton visited the barn yesterday and found that the Cat had two young ones in the nest. She watched for a while and saw that the Cat was equally attentive to both little ones, but on examination she found that one was a young Rat. Mr. Hamilton immediately killed the little Rat, but regrets doing so, as there is much speculation as to how the Cat would have treated the adopted youngster after it had grown to Rat size.

Gettysburg Star And Sentinel, May 4, 1910
This Cat is Raising Rats
William has a Cat that besides of taking care of five Kittens is raising a Rat. She's as fond of the young Rat as she is of her own offspring. The Rat suckles at the Cat as the five Kittens. Some weeks ago she gave birth to them and a few days later came from the barn carrying in her mouth by the skin of the neck as Cats carry their own children a little Rat the eyes of which were not yet open. She deposited the young rodent with her Kittens and it has become a regular member of the family.

Portsmouth Herald - May 24, 1910
CAT ADOPTS BABY MICE
"Jim Crow" Manifests Her Maternal Instinct In Curious Way.
Naturalists as a rule have classed the Cat and the Mouse as instinctive enemies but there are occasions where the speculations of naturalists as well as those of ordinary mortals are turned curvy. In the Virginia bonded warehouse here there has arisen a case that is said to be without a parallel. “Jim Crow” -a huge and heretofore mouser has adopted as her own a family of five young Mice and she fondles and them with great care. Jim adopted the Mice after a litter of Kittens had been taken from her.

Des Moines Daily News, June 24, 1910
Kitty Kills Mother Rat, Then Adopts Her Family
Several weeks ago she got hungry and as most Cats do prowled around until she found a Rat. My but it made a good meal. Next day she got hungry again and started out in search of other dinner. Presently she came upon a nest of baby Rats. They were crying for their mother as the Cat soon saw. Then it appears to have eaten the little baby Rat’s mother and they would starve if aid wasn’t given them. So she adopted the family and now she's their stepmother. Every day she plays with them and takes them things to eat. A day or two ago the Cat met a Kitten and took it around for a look at the lively growing Rat family. The Kitten started to get after the Rats but the big Cat objected and caught the Kitten by the neck and shook it hard. She's proud of her family.
Rest of story very hard to read - Continues here:

The Victoria Advocate - Aug. 25, 1910
Little Rat Adopted and cared for by a Cat along with her Kittens
East Moline - Aug. 23
The strangest thing that any inhabitant whereabouts claims to have seen is the sight of a Maltese Cat nursing a Rat among her own four Kittens. The Cat and her composite family are now on exhibition at the City Hotel.
A gray Maltese Cat recently gave birth to four Kittens, which have not as yet got their eyes open. Monday the odd Cat was seen coming from a barn nearby with a little Rat in her mouth. The Cat has always been a terror for Rats and Mice in the neighborhood. The Cat carried the little thing by the neck, in the same manner that she always carried her own little Kittens, to the box in the kitchen in which was her own little family, and placed the little stranger inside; and there it remained ever since.
The Cat nurses the little Rat, licks it and takes care of it just the same as she does with each one of her Kittens.

The Kanaseraga Times - March 3, 1911
Cat nursing a Rat
Cats and Rats are commonly regarded as inevitable enemies, but a story comes from Scotland of an instance in which this hatred has given place to warm affection. The other day when potatoes were being lifted in Glenfeshire forest, near Kingussle, one of the workers came on a Rat's nest containing a number of young ones.
These were promptly dispatched with the exception of one, which the finder retained. Shortly afterwards the Rat was adopted by a Cat which at the time was nursing Kittens. Instead of devouring the Rat, as one would expect, pussy gave it a place beside her own offspring, bestowing upon the newcomer as much care and affection as she formerly devoted to her own family. At the time of writing the Rat was still under pussy’s maternal care.

THE CALL - SAN FRANCISCO. April 8, 1911
CAT ADOPTS 3 BABY RATS MADE ORPHANS BY HERSELF - LOS ANGELES, April 7.
After killing a large Rat, Polly, a striped Cat, given a home in a laundry in this city, has adopted three baby Rats and is raising them with the one Kitten which remains of the four recently born to purrs contentedly over them and shows no disposition to kill the Rats. Scores have seen them and they have been photographed to substantiate the story that seems at variance with the nature of Cats. It is believed the mother instinct in Polly saved the little Rats. Rats and Kitten are nestled together in one box with the Cat.

English News , May 12, 1911
Cat Mothers Young Rats.
(...) lives near the Wabash says a few days ago he disposed of a litter of Kittens belonging to the houses Cat. The next day he found the Cat caring for a litter of Rats.
(...) says he Cat killed the mother Rat and then took her young to nurse.
Story:

Evening Independent, October 10, 1911
CAT MOTHERS TWO RATS - Findlay Oct.
Deshler Cat, the mother of two Kittens, has taken two young Rats to raise and is mothering them as well as she is her own kin. She had her Kittens in a corn cob pile in an elevator, and when she returned from a foraging expedition found the Rats.

Atlanta Constitution, July 19, 1912
http://newspaperarchive.com/atlanta-constitution/1912-07-19/page-3?tag=rats+adopted+cat&rtserp=tags/rats-adopted-cat
EIGHT YOUNG RATS ADOPTED BY A CAT 
Judicial report of the assistant actuary of the state liability board today declares he has discovered a Cat at Goodman plant in Hamilton that has adopted a nest of eight young Rats.
The mother Rat had been killed by employees of the plant. The report says the Cat is nursing the Rats just as if they were her own children.

Sioux County Herald - 8-22-1912
Cat Nurses Rats. Hamilton, Ohio
Employers of the Goodman paper plant found a Cat some days ago acting as a mother to a nest of eight young Rats, found by the employees after they had killed the mother Rat. The Cat was taking care of the young Rats as if they were her own offspring. Bets were offered and taken that pussy would, in time, yield to temptation, and eat one just for luck. That is just what she did and bets were paid, but there are seven more left and even money still prevails. This first test is not considered a fair one, as the dope on the form sheet is. One of the workmen at the mill found one of the Rats playing outside its cage and, picking it up, was bitten in the finger. He quickly tossed the rodent to the cement floor, stunning it, and then placed the young Rat in the Cat's crib. Her devouring of it and her returning to the care of her strange family is all out as animal instinct.

Kentucky New Era - Oct. 11, 1912
Cat mothers Rats
A Cat at Cate's mill lost her litter of Kittens this week and about the same time the mother of a family of six Rats died or was killed leaving her offspring unsafe. The disconsolate mother adopted the young Rats and mothered them in the most solicitous manner for a day and a night, but the inexorable law in all mills that every possible Rat shall be killed prevailed in this case and the mill employs put an end to the unusual domestic arrangement.
(Another beautiful story, with a sad ending...)

The Spokesman Review - 11 Nov, 1912
Kittens dead, Cat Mothers Litter Of Rats Found In Chinese Store
The spectacle of an old Cat mothering five young Rats was witnessed by several Chinese when preparations were being made by them to move from the old Lotus block, just back of the city hall on Trent Avenue, last week.
Ah Woo, employed as a clerk by one of the importing concerns, found the Cat and the strange litter. The Cat had made a sort of bed of rags in a far corner of the kitchen back of an old box used for coal and wood.
The Cat is probably ten years old and had been with the Chinese all her life and was regarded as a good Rat catcher.
About a month ago the feline, who answers to the name of "Ah Back Seld", gave birth to a family of Kittens. The Kittens all died soon after birth.
A few days later, according to Ah Woo, the Cat brought in a large female Rat she had killed. After that she was seldom seen, and this was remarked upon, as it was her custom to stay in the room with the men, especially in the evening.
(Part of the text; the ending seems to be so sad once more).
In Page 3

Logansport Pharos Tribune, April 23, 1913
RODENTS ADOPTED BY CAT
One of the strangest freaks that has been brought to light in this city is that of a mother Cat at the Parmeter feed barn at 432 High street that has taken into her nest with her Kittens several Rats. Yesterday five young and two Rats nursed all day side by side while the mother of the Kittens distributed her rations equally among the members of her little family and the rodents. Such a strange occurrence has never been known before and photographs made a picture of the strange group. A box was procured and covered with a wire netting and in it the Cat and her protected babies have been housed. Yesterday afternoon one of the Rats deserted the others but one a half grown young rodent still stayed to the festal board. The Rat fought so viciously for its place with the Kittens that Mr Nethercutt picked it up and cut its teeth. The Rat is as tame as the Kittens and can be picked up by spectators easily.

Jeffersonville Daily Reflector, June 19, 1913
Cat Mothered Young Rats
A Rat was killed in a produce company's plant in Missouri and left four young which the Cat has undertaken to bring meantime not neglecting her duty of keeping the place clear of all adult Rats.
Story:

The Sun (1837-1985) - Baltimore, Md.
Maltese Cat Cares For Rat - May 23, 1913
Washington, Pa. - A Maltese Cat owned by James of Buffalo village has added a Rat to her family of five Kittens. Several days ago four young Rats alive were given to her. She killed all but one which she adopted The rat made no effort to get away. It is cared for and fed the same as the Kittens.

The Robesonian - April 26, 1915
Cat adopts Mice
Mr. Ben Edwards, who lives in the eastern part of town, says a Cat belonging to his household adopted some Mice recently that were caught by one of his boys and given to the Cat for her young Kittens. He said the Cat nursed and cared for the Mice just as she did with the Kittens for two days.
(The story continues, but its end again is tragic; and as always, not for what the Cat suddenly does).

Oakland Tribune - June 30, 1916
Cat adopts Rats - Indianapolis
Takes Two Into Nest With Kittens; Nurses Them Tenderly.
Cats and Rats are traditional enemies, but Jerry, a Cat at No. 4 Fire house, at West and Morris Streets, has upset all tradition. She is the mother of four black and white Kittens of about two weeks old. A week ago a nest of baby Rats was uncovered in a building across the street from the fire house and two of the baby Rats were brought to the fire house as toothsome dainties for Jerry and placed on the floor in front of her. Jerry immediately carried them into her nest, picking them up by the back of the neck as carefully as she would with her own Kittens. By her behavior she made it known that she wanted to adopt the baby Rats as her own, and for the last week she has been nursing and fondling them with all the mother instinct shown towards her Kittens. Michael M. Mountain, captain of the Number 4 Company, says that she appears to be even more concerned over the welfare of her adopted babies than she is over her own. News of Jerry and her strange family has spread over the neighbourhood, and she is receiving many callers.

Washington Post - August 29, 1916
Cat adopts three Mice - Deprived of her Kittens, she accepts them as substitutes
The Washington Post. N Y Aug 28
A lady of this county has a Cat which recently lost her three Kittens, and when three Mice were given her to kill and eat, she surprised all beholders by treating them with the greatest kindness and apparently adopted them in place of her lost Kittens.

Elyria Evening Telegram, November 23, 1916
Bereaved Cat Has Adopted Mice
A Cat belonging to Mrs. (...) has adopted three Mice In the place of her Kittens, which died. The Mice were given to the Cat in the belief that she would kill them but she immediately proceeded to treat them with the greatest kindness and attention.

Alton Evening Telegraph - August 17, 1917
Cat And Rats On Exhibition
George and Mrs. (...) found their Cat mothering two Rats along with her two Kittens, and put the happy family in exhibition in the show window at his hardware store on Third Street.
It was not fake, this story, as proved by the Cat and the Rats in the show window.

El Paso Herald - July 15, 1918
Cat raises Rats with Kittens - H. C. of L.
Huntington, W. Victoria, July 15.
A wise old mother Cat is raising three baby Rats with her Kittens here.
The Rats and Kittens play together, and wherever the Rats go astray they are brought back by the mother Cat. The belief is that the mother Cat is preparing for the H. C. of L. (...)

Spokane Daily Chronicles - Sep. 13, 1918
Cat mothers Rats with her Kittens
A Cat owned by Ben Price, a grocer, has three Kittens and along with these Kittens she is mothering three young Rats, says a report from Huntington, West Virginia.
Rats and Kittens play together in a box provided for them, and whenever the Rats stray away the mother goes forth and brings them back, the same as she does with her Kittens.

The Ottawa Journal. 17 December 1920
A curious Rat story is told in "Wild Creatures of Oterber and Hedgerow." Miss Pitt came upon a nest of baby Rats, and the idea came to her to give one of them to the family Cat to rear, Her Kittens had been sacrificed, all except one. She cautiously placed the young Rat by the remaining Kitten, and the plan worked. The old Cat nursed the baby Rat, washed it and treated it in every way as a Kitten. The Rat learned to know Miss Pitt as a friend, and became "one of the tamest creatures I have ever known. It proved a most amusing family pet for nearly two years”, Oterber Digest.

April 7, 1921 - The New York Times
Mouse in the litter cared for by a Cat
Leviston, Me., Apr. 6. - The discovery that his grocery Cat was mothering a Mouse with her own litter of Kittens astonished Charles Dub and his customers today. Snuggled together in the bottom of a rain barrel the rodent and the Kittens seemed a happy family, with all sharing in the food supply.

Lock Haven Express, April 25, 1921
Cat Mothers Rats In Bank Cupboard

The Milwaukee Journal - Ago. 29, 1921
Motherly Cat adopts a Rat
Rocky Mount. N. C. - Two small Kittens and a young Rat make the happy family of a fond mother Cat at Enfield, according to J. T. Ethridge, who took a peep into a barrel which serves as the family home. The mother Cat, according to Ethridge, found two Kittens many days ago, and on the day after the Kittens came caught a young Rat and carried it to her barrel home. Evidently the mother instinct got the better of her on else, the Kittens and the Rat developed a case of love at first sight, for the mother speedily changed her killing intentions and welcomed the Rat into the freedom of her home. Now she is nursing the Rat and the two Kittens, while the adopted member has developed into an affectionate youngster, playing with his mother and licking her fondly as do the young Kittens. On top of that the new life appears to be agreeing with the rodent, as he has grown considerably since his adoption.
(Maybe the most beautiful story of all these, with the Rat son fondling her, because it also comes to prove that Rats and Mice can really thrive with Cat mother's milk).

The Pittsburgh Press - December 2, 1921
Cat Adopts Rat
A Cat has adopted a young Rat, creating great excitement on Wyoming Street, Charleston, W. Va. This must make heated argument among older Rats.
The adopted Rat, granted that his mother warned him against Cats, probably thinks he is lucky and that a change has come over the rules of procedure.
Nevertheless, the Cat's appetite for Rats is a natural law, and this young Rat would do well to keep an eye on the teeth of the tabby who is mothering him.
If he doesn't he's credulous enough to believe in the League of Nations.
(He didn't absolutely need to do such thing, of course).

The Deseret News - Mar. 14, 1922
Cat mothers Rats with litter of Kittens and breaks previous records.
Bloomington, Ills., March 15. By mothering two infant Rats with her newborn Kittens, Susie, a Cat in the blacksmith shop of Jack Crawford, breaks down all previous suppositions of Cats. Last Sunday, she added four small Cats to the feline population of the world. Soon afterward, Lou Wright, a neighbour, thinking to give Susie a treat, took her to a nest where there were five newborn Rats.
Instead of making them a meal, Susie started to purr, and laid down and played with the strangers. However, she remembered her own waiting children and carried two of the Rats back to her family home, in a cupboard in the blacksmith shop. Susie struts and purrs when complimented on her unique motherhood, while four Kittens and two infant Rats crawl over each other on the floor.

Bradford Era - March 17, 1922
CAT ADOPTS RATS - March 16.
The death of her Kittens left the local blacksmith shop Cat which adopted two baby Rats with only the rodents to mother. She gave the Rats a bath today then romped with them as devotedly as though they were her own Kittens.
The blacksmith is authority for the opinion that Susie's adopted children robbed the Kittens of their nourishment and caused their adoption.
(Full and correct story through the URL)

Moberly Monitor Index, March 20, 1922
CAT ADOPTS INFANT RATS
(Story):

April 8, 1922 - The Children's Newspaper
CAT REARS A YOUNG RAT
Captive Adopted as a Child
A strange story of the conduct of a mother Cat comes from South Africa.
The mother Cat, with five Kittens of her own in a soap-box, went a-ratting.
Coming on a mother Rat and five young Rats, she killed the mother and four of the young Rats, but the fifth of the family she carried off to her own home and suckled it with her Kittens.
It was on the eighth day after this strange adoption that a reporter called to see pussy's family, and found the mother Cat out, and no young Rat visible with her five Kittens. But presently the Cat returned, missed her foster child, and, searching for it, found it under a patch of straw. She brought it out, put it with the Kittens, and proceeded to suckle the whole mixed family.

CAT ADOPTS RATS WHEN KITTENS DIE
Oshkosh Daily Northwestern, March 17, 1922

Ellensburg Daily Record, June 20, 1922
Loses Kittens - Cat adopts Rat
Poplar Bluff, Mo., June 20.
“Any port in a storm”, might be the motto of a large Cat owned by Charles Kimbell, telegraph operator here.
The Cat recently gave birth to a half dozen Kittens. Kimbell didn't want to be bothered with the Cat's progeny and disposed of the young to friends.
When they didn’t appear when she thought it time, the mother began to search through the house and call them. The old Cat continued her search and pitiful calling through the night until Kimbell began to think he would have to go and get one of the Kittens to pacify her.
Early the next day, however, the Cat became silent. Then it was for Kimbell to search. He was attracted to a dresser by the familiar purring sound. There he found the old Cat fondly nestling a small Rat.
The Rat had grown to considerable size now and while the Cat's teaching has had the effect of taming the animal somewhat the Rat nature is still in him, and he insists on tantalizing the stepmother by running away from her and visit native friends.
Old Cat dislikes for her Rat child to associate to that kind of company, and she often comes back into the Kimbell home carrying the Rat in the same manner that she would carry her own children.

The Fayetteville Bulletin - June 1, 1923
Cat mothers Rat when Kittens die.
York, Pennsylvania. A Cat in the fiber board plant here is mothering a Rat which she adopted when her three Kittens died. The Rat and the Cat are together constantly and never fight.

Popular Science - Aug. 1923
Store Cat mothers Mice
The show window of a Los Angeles, Calif., store was the place chosen by Betty, the office Cat, to nurse a brood of Mice.
(Beautiful picture here...)

Kokomo Tribune - September 19, 1923
A Cat That Nurses Rats
John Fee has at his feed store in South Union street a most eccentric Cat. She is now nursing two baby Kittens and two young Rats.
Singularly enough she makes no distinction among the little creatures treating the Rats as well as she does her own infants.
Stranger still she is a good ratter.
How can toward the Rats be accounted for natural history students answer is Pass a nature faker.

Robesonian - 10-11-1923
CAT ADOPTS MICE
Dr. T. A. Norment states that on Tuesday morning he found a live Mouse being kept warm by a Cat and Kittens on his premises. Thinking the Mouse must be dead or badly injured and that the Cat had it nested away just to play with, he took it from the nest and examined it, finding it perfectly alive and showing no signs of mistreatment. He put it back, returned that Wednesday, and found two Mice bedding with the Cat. All seemed happy and contented.

Lebanon Semi Weekly News - May 8, 1924
Cat mothered two Rats at Fertig home.
A mother Cat nursing two half grown Rats in place of her children of her was the strange sight wit several days at the premises of Levi Fertig, a grocer and general merchant at 38 Guillard (...) Street.
Recognizing the fact that his own credulity would be questioned in case he told the story without Fertig showed the strange sight to a number of neighbors and friends, all of whom testify to the truth of the Fertig upon going to a shed on his premises found that the old family Cat had been visited by the Stork (...).
The amiable bird was grievously stingy in its benefactions as the was but one Kitten. A day or two later he saw Tabby leave her bed to feed upon some milk and other food at the place where the Cat is regularly fed, so he went to the bed to see how kitty was coming. His astonishment may be when he saw two half grown Rats nestling close to the Kittens.
Suspecting that the Rats were in Fertig stood by and then and his astonishment grew to amazement when he saw Tabby go back and confer upon the Rats the same motherly attention as she granted her young. Fertig expected to see the old Cat grab the Rats for dinner but there was nothing going. It was then that the neighbors were called, for Tabby is known far and wide as one of the best ratters in the region, and it is for that reason that the Cat is so highly prized by Fertig.
The strange litter was left to its unusual association a day and a night, and then the Rats were drowned since Fertig began to feel that his Tabby was losing social cast in harboring such trash about the premises and in time might become depraved enough to invite relatives of her adopted brood to visit the barn instead of being guardian of the premises against that very kind of miscreants and vermins; and he states that the Cat actually put up a fight when they were removed.

Tyrone Daily Herald - 09-05-1924
Cat Adopts Rats
There is a Cat in Monkton, N. R. that has adopted five young Rats. The Cat feeds the Rats and any time she calls they go into her and nestle around as Kittens would. The Rats are about a month old and the owner of the Cat has made quiet a sum of money exhibiting the quaint family.

1924 - The Life Of The Bat
"The same Nique, having only three Kittens of her own, conscientiously nursed a white Rat I had added to her brood. I even think she felt for this animal, which must have seemed to her timid and ill begotten, more solicitude than for the others. A month later the three Kittens and the Rat played together under the vigilant eye of the mother. Yet I must remark that this creature from the Far East was a ferocious and exemplary Rat catcher. After seven years the Rat nursed by the Siamese Cat lives on, but he is turning grey, and that means old age for a Rat, too".

Fitchburg Sentinel - September 29, 1925
Cat Adopts Four Motherless Rats Which Appear to Be Happy With Two Kittens
As Playmates and catdom have reached the Like the Lion and the Lamb the Cat and the Rat are down together. In fact they are living together with a common mother in a rather uncommon house Cat.
Out at Clover Hill farm which supplies many families with milk a litter of Kittens and a litter of Rats came into the world almost simultaneously. There were originally four Kittens and 10 little Rats. Death befell the mother Rat and six of her young also failed to survive the first day. Likewise, two of the brood of Kittens died before their eyes were opened. Mourning the loss of two of her Kittens the mother Cat refused to budge from the basket in which she and her depleted family were placed except to obtain food. The four motherless Rats were found by Harry, a senior at school and a grandson of W. J. Fish, one of the proprietors of the farm. As an experiment Harry placed the four Rats In the basket with the mother Cat and her two Kittens.
That was last day and although some days have elapsed the four little Rats are alive as healthy as their of the Cat family. The mother Cat has nursed the Rats as well as her Kittens and her peculiar foster children as though they were her own. The Rats and the little Kittens get along well together. They play with one another and seem not to mind the fact that they are widely opposite. Harry Greenough is greatly interested In animals and he expects that his experiment will result in one of the most unusual turns of nature. Whether the enmity between Cats and Rats will live or whether they will cling to common mother for the remainder of their lives remains to be seen.

May 12, 1927 - WHITESBURGH. LETCHER COUNTY, KENTUCKY
Cat adpts Rats
Lamb May Now Lie Down With Lion. Not long ago a Mama Cat had her Kittens destroyed. About the same time a nest of young Rats, with their eyes not yet open, was found and brought to feed the Cat. She carried the Rats, one at a time, into the house; and the family thought she was eating them. Imagine the surprise, however, when it was discovered that she had adopted the youngsters, six in number. Two died, but the remaining four have their eyes open and are doing nicely. John Holmes is the owner of the Cat and her queer family.

Painesville Telegraph - November 15, 1928
Cat mothers Rat
Fitzgerald, Ga., Nov. 15. - Mrs. Sallie Barnes has an unusual exhibit on display for friends. It is a Cat mothering Kittens and one lone baby Rat. The Cat family appears to be perfectly amiable toward its adopted member.

IRONWOOD, MICHIGAN, TUESDAY EVENING, JUNE 25, 1929
Cat Mothers 5 Young Rats
Chicago, June 25
Molly, the big Maltese Cat who has been the scourge of Rats at the Sangamon Paper Grading company warehouse, has become foster mother to five young Rats. A porter last night came upon the Cat and her adopted brood, and, not believing his eyes, called his boss. Later newspaper cameramen made a photographic record of what would have seemed without it to be hardly plausible. The opinion was expressed that Molly had killed the mother of the brood and then had assumed the maternal role herself. She refuses to permit anyone to take the tiny Rats from her.

THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, FRIDAY MORNING, AUGUST 16, 1929
A CAT MOTHERED A LITTER OF MICE
She affectionately raised them to maturity - Oslo, Norway

Logansport Pharos Tribune, May 5, 1930
A large black Cat is mothering two infant Mice here. The strange combination was found by John Laub of Akron Ohio in a barrel at the Roberts Seed Produce Company. Laub is conducting a Rat extermination here. The Cat feeds and cares for the Mice as though they were her Kittens.
Laub said he was informed that the Cat tried the same last year with another crop of baby Mice. Upon being interviewed Kitty refused to deny or affirm the reports that she was raising the Mice to eat them when the get grown.

Papers Past Evening Post, Rōrahi CXII, Putanga 98, 22 Whiringa-ā-nuku
1931
Cat mothers baby Rat
A strange case is reported from the residence of Mr. J. Parkin, of Maunu Road, Whangarei, namely, that of a Cat mothering a baby Rat (states a local correspondent). Mr. Parking was digging in his garden and discovered a nest of young Rats. He killed all but one, which he told one of his children to give to the Cat. It was placed with the Kittens and their mother, but the Cat made no attempt to kill it. The Cat has three Kittens about two and a half weeks old, and the Rat is estimated to be about the same age. When the baby Rat nestles against the Cat, it is usually found among the three Kittens, and it appears to have become one of the family, not only feeding with, but playing with the Kittens.

The Montreal Gazette - 10 May, 1931
Cat nurses Fox pups, Rat
St. Martins, N. B., May 9 - A Cat owned by Mrs. And Mr. Errol Miller here has mothered a young Rat, two black Fox pups and a Kitten. All at the same time.
The Cat had three Kittens, two of which were removed from the nest and the Fox pups substituted. Later the Rat cuddled up with the group and was nursed by tabby without discrimination.
(This story had another sad ending because of the owners...)

Jun. 1931
Cat Mothers White Mice
PATSY, pet Cat of Miss Madge Mahoney, of Brooklyn, must have read all about the peace talk in Washington and decided to take it to heart, for she has put aside all her feline hatred of her age-old enemies, Rats, and is mothering four white rodents as if they were her Kittens.

Pittsburgh Post Gazette - June 24, 1931
Cat mothers Mouse
Escanaba, Mich., Jun 23
Mr. Arthur Gaumont of Masonville, near here, has a Cat who is mothering a baby Mouse in addition to two Kittens. When tabby washes her little ones, the Mouse also receives a bath. No one knows how the Mouse got into the box with the Kittens, but it has been there ever since last Friday.

The Lawrence Daily Journal - World
Tuesday, July 21, 1931 (Page six, upper left).
Cat mothered 9 Rats - Picture above the story.
An Angora Cat owned by Raymond Roush, of Marion, Ohio, was once noted for her aptitude in exterminating rodents. But she had a change of heart.
One day Roush led the Cat to a nice dinner, a new born litter of Rats, and left her to enjoy the meal.
When he returned he found the Cat feeding the Rats instead of the Rats feeding the Cat.

Tuesday morning, May 31, 1932
Cat Mothers Young Rat - Rears rodent in box with her own Kittens.
Acting as mother to a Rat, whose family she had eaten, is the old role assumed by a Cat in Transvaal.
A native boy working in a shop found a nest of seven Rats and set the shop's Cat on them. The Cat ate six of the Rats but carried the seventh away with her alive.
Now the Rat is living in a box with the Cat's own Kittens, and the mother Cat licks and cleans it with the same care she devotes to her own offspring.
If the Rat is taken away from the box, the Cat retrieves it and takes it back to its playmates.

DANVILLE VA
The Bee, April 10, 1933
Cat Mothers Mice - ELIZABETH CITY.
H. Rice's Cat has started a new deal for the Mice. She's raising them now. When Rice, a highway foreman at (...), found a bed of Mice in his barn, he killed all but two. These he placed with his Cat and her small Kittens.
The Cat has adopted the Mice and is giving them the same treatment her Kittens receive"

April 19, 1933
The Charleroi Mail
Duquesne Cat mothers Rats
Pittsburgh, April 19
It's against all the laws of nature and it marks the highest point of tolerance in feline (...), but it’s true, nevertheless.
Matty, a mother Cat, is nursing five baby Rats side by side with three newly born Kittens.
The Rats, found in a nest in a Duquesne garden, were thrown into Matty for rations.
But Matty didn't eat them. She only stretched out to make room and pushed them under - there being ample room for everybody.
Both Rats and Cats had their eyes open today. Squeals and meowing intermingled while Matty purred contentedly.
Matty seems to feel her brood and foster brood are too busy growing up to pay attention to born-in-the-blood racial prejudices.

Cat Mothers Rat
Lethbridge Herald. Saturday, May 6, 1933
Selma, Ala. - Speaking of adoptions, consider J. P. Petty’s Cat. Her young Kitten died the other day. Soon afterward the Cat went hunting and caught a young Rat. Today large crowds were gathered around Petty’s house watching the Cat mother the Rat.

TERRIL RECORD - 4 / 27 / 1933
Cat Mothers Baby Rats With Her Kittens
Henryetta, Okla. (UP) - An ordinary black and yellow speckled house Cat has adopted two Rats to raise along with her brood of four Kittens at the Miracle Sweet Feed mill here. E. A. Croom, part owner of the mill, found a nest of young Rats in the building. Intending to furnish a wholesome meal for the mother Cat and her four young ones, Croom placed the baby Rats in the Cat's pen. Instead of devouring them, however, the sympathetic Cat promptly began to mother them.

July 20, 1934
After killing a Rat, a Cat in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, is mothering its victim's family of eight young Rats
Full story here (in that site, the stories are very hard to see):

August 9, 1934 - Laredo Times
Cat Nurses Rat.
Goodman's Dog caught a Rat, but before the Dog could start his meal Goodman's Cat carried the Rat away and put it among her Kittens. The young Rat was injured and the Cat nursed it back to health.
(“That is MY baby, leave it right now, ‘Big mouth’”, would have said the Cat if she had the chance).

The Argus (Melbourne, Vic.) 1848 - 1956
October 18, 1934
Cat Mothers Rats
Adding to the many stories we have had of strange foster-parents Rene Wells (Grassgunya - Balmoral) tells how a bereaved Cat tried to adopt some young Rats.
When Mrs. Wells lifted an old tank lid she found a nest of six young Rats. A mother Cat, which a few days earlier had lost her Kittens, heard the Rats squeaking. She picked up one in her mouth and began to carry it away, and when it was taken from her she went to the other young Rats and cuddled them. As the young Rats were being killed the Cat rushed forward with her tail bristling and tried to save them.

GAZETTE FARMERS* JOURNAL BALDWINSVILLE, N. Y. - December 6, 1934
A Maltese Cat In the home of Sheriff O. M. Barnes of Hickory, N. C, adopted a brood of Mice and raised them.

Reading Eagle - 5 Sep. 1935
CAT MOTHERS MOUSE - Baraboo, Wis. - (U.P). A mother Cat has added a Mouse to her family of four Kittens at Harry Simmon's Farm.
The mother, Mouse and Kittens are the best of pals, Simmons said.

Albert Lea Evening Tribune, December 12, 1935
Tabby Adopts Rochester Rats When Kittens Die
When mother instinct is in question even an innate desire to lunch on any and all rodents must give way.
Two months ago Billy, a Cat owned by Robert Mertz proprietor of Bob's Bakery, had two Kittens.
The Kittens died in a few weeks and the forlorn mother was left alone.
But Mr Mertz had two young white Rats in his basement and after half an hour of stern but kindly instruction Billy adopted them.
During their milk diet infancy the Cat suckled the Rats and while they have now graduated to a bread of fare they still come to Billy for their family rub down and sleep with her in a box.
Playful as any Kitten the Rats crawl all over Billy and most drive her to distraction inserting their pointed noses into her mouth; sometimes their whole heads.
Mr Mertz is conducting a feeding experiment with the two Rats at present.

Pine River Journal, January 2, 1936
Tabby adopts Rats when Kittens die
Rochester - When mother instinct is in question, even a feline’s desire to lunch on any and all rodents must give way. Two months ago, Billy, a Cat owned by Robert Merkz, proprietor of Bob’s Bakery, had two Kittens. The Kittens died in a few weeks and the forlorn mother was left alone. But Mr. Robert had two young white Rats in is basement, and after a hour of stern but kindly instruction, Billy adopted them. During their milk diet infancy, the Cat suckled the Rats, and while they have now graduated to a bread bill-of fare, they still come to Billy for their daily rub down and wash, and sleep with her in a box of excelsior. Playful as any Kitten, the Rats crawl all over Billy and almost drive her to distraction by putting their pointed noses into her mouth, sometimes their whole heads.

New Castle News, August 15, 1938
Believe It Or Not Cat Adopts Rats
Yesterday the strange phenomenon of a female Cat, the sworn enemy of the Rat adopting two young rodents was related by William B of (...)
Heights Warren O (...) formerly of this city hearing his Dogs barking in an alarmed manner went out to see what was the cause of the disturbance.
There he saw their Cat fighting two Dogs off from a box within a small barn on the place.
Knowing that the Cat had lost all her Kittens in an unknown manner he saw what could be within the box that she was so desperately protecting and taking a look discovered that it was two young Rats.
Story:

THE MANSFIELD NEWS-JOURNAL
THURSDAY, JANUARY 2, 1936 
CAT MOTHERS MOUSE
LONDON - A Cat mothering a Mouse?
Ed Myers, guard captain at the London prison farm, said a Cat at his farm home is raising an orphan Mouse and a Rabbit.

Ruston Daily Leader - February 17, 1936
CAT MOTHERS MOUSE
(Story correctly written here):
Cat has adopted mouse in the Roman Catholic Presbytery.
She caught the Mouse and brought it home to her. The Mouse survived the now it refuses to leave it plays with the eats and sleeps with them and even ventures to nip the mother Cat’s ear.

Woodland Daily Democrat - April 22, 1936
Cat Adopts Baby Rats
Cats and Rats of the Woodland Rice Milling Company Wednesday were rounding out their “Believe it or not” act for Robert Ripley.
A mother Cat grieved because her lover Tommy killed her Kittens, and choked life from a mother Rat so that she might adopt her five, small Rats. The five Rats, liking their new home, nursed from mother Cat and were gaining in weight when the same Tom Cat came along to hold another slaying party. Tommy killed the Mice. Early Wednesday morning the mother Cat was the object of pity from a group of employees of the Milling Company. They stand ready to testify that the Cat did adopt the Mice and that they were getting along when the second killing took place.

Kingsport Times - April 24, 1936
Cat nurses Rat - Has own litter
That Momsy -10 years old Persian-Maltese Cat belonging to Harold Lane, son of Mr. and Mrs. Worley Lane, 610 Dale Street has become senile, in her old age-, is the only explanation that can be given for a strange phenomenon that has taken place in the Cat's family.
She is mothering a young Rat along with four small Kittens from a litter belonging to her own offspring.
Monday morning Mr. Lane went to an outbuilding to feed the Cats and found the young Rat nursing from the mother Cat along with the four Kittens. All seemed perfectly content.
Hardly believing his own eyes, Mr. Lane summoned other members of his family to verify the situation. And sure enough, Momsy was caring of the Rat as if it were one of her own litter.
Momsy and Whitey, the latter five year old offspring of the older Cat, produced Kittens at about the same time. All of Momsy's Kittens died so she decided to take Whitey's brood into her own fold.
Harold refused to allow the Cat to steal her own grandchildren so returned them to their rightful mother. The next day Momsy appropriated the Rat and the Kittens also returned.
Now Momsy and Whitey are mothering both the Kittens and the Rat, taking turns about feeding the brood.

The Free Lance Star - May 4, 1936
Cat mothers infant Mouse - Portsmouth, Va., May 4. (AP).
K. T. Beauchamp of Cradock, Norfolk County, believes he has a Cat that can qualify for a place in Ripley's "Believe it or not" Department. The Cat is caring of a brood of Kittens. Among the brood is a Mouse which the mother Cat is feeding and caring for as one of her own. Since Cats are accustomed to feasting on Mice and Rats, Mr. Beauchamp's may be considered in a class by herself.

The Deseret News - Oct. 24, 1936
Cat mothers a Rat
Bubbins, the mother Cat, had that motherly feeling when Bob, the Rat, arrived to the scene some weeks ago. Since then she has taken care of him as though he were her own baby Kitten instead of a Rat, which, under ordinary circumstances, she would have very much to eat. Both are owned by Mrs. Ethel Main, Sacramento.
However, there came a time when Bob's nose was kind of out of place, so to speak, for his mother had a family of her own. A picture of Bob was snapped when he was trying to share a meal with the three baby Kittens, but without much success. Bob was not entirely deserted, though, as can be seen by the unusual pose in another picture which shows Bubbin's and her new child eating together.

December 3, 1936
Cat Adopts Baby Rat - Jealous Kittens Meow
Pompton Lakes, N. J., December 3.
Domestic discord broke out in the cardboard domicile of Pickles, a Cat; over the attention she lavished on a four inch baby Rat she rescued from a blazing ice house and adopted as her own.
The mother other offspring, two survivors from a litter of nine, mewed their jealousy of the member in their cellar home.
Pickles previously had quite a reputation as a ratter in kitchens and barnyards whereabouts.
John Hamill, 40, owner of the Lakeside Hotel, said Pickles dashed out of the burning icehouse with the Rat grasped in her teeth and carried it to the cellar.
“After dinner”, he explained, “the dinged thing just crawls in the box and snuggles between the Kittens”.
When the Kittens play, it just sits down sleepy-eye and watches.
(And the Cat went to the rescue... Facing great danger, only to save a Rat, one of the biggest lessons that anyone could learn).

The Daily Independent - Murphysboro, Illinois - Friday, May 7, 1937
Rat Nursed By Mother Cat At Johnston City
West Frankfort - Johnston City skeptics yesterday and today crowded into Kroger's store in that city to witness an unheard phenomena: a baby Rat and three Kittens peaceably nursing the mother Cat.
The store Cat, of the common gray and white variety, yesterday sprang into prominence and into print when she adopted an orphaned gray Rat, also of the common grey variety.
Tabby, it seems, who is "at home" at the Kroger Store, became the mother of three gray and white Kittens ten days ago.
The Kittens were happily homed in a box at the rear of store.
Tabby, who evidently decided that three youngsters constituted a scarce family, discovered in a scavenger hunt the baby Rat of undetermined age, carried it home and dropped it into the nursery.
After (...) feeding time in which the stray outsider received nourishment with the Kittens, Tabby impartially washed the Rat along with her own three Kittens.
Ernie Trinkle is manager of the Johnston City store and Dom Crakowicz of West Frankfort is butcher.
Johnston City residents, who now claim a phenomena rivaling any freaks of Ripley's Believe it or not, (...) have been interested visitors in the store.
The majority, who were rather dubious of tales told by neighbors and friends, came to see and became confirmed believers.
(Story, correctly written, in some page of this newspaper):

Reading Eagle - May 22, 1937
Cat adopts two Rats
Poughkeepsie. N. Y. - May 22. Topsy, an alley Cat, adopted baby Rats when nature sent her only three Kittens, take it from Antonio Saintomas, restaurant proprietor.
Saintomas called in witnesses when he doubted the testimony of his own eyesight, as he discovered Topsy carrying the brood one by one in her mouth to a warm spot in Saintomas kitchen.

Oakland Tribune - May 28, 1937
Cat Mothers 2 Baby Rats
Cat with her two Kittens and two adopted baby Rats nestling together in a granary here had employees puzzled today.
Capable and relentless ratter was giving the young Rats the same care she was providing for the Kittens.

WOODBRIDGE LEADER - JOURNAL, JANUARY 21, 1938
CAT MOTHERS RAT
Danville, Va. - A mother Cat caught a Wharf Rat and gave it to her three Kittens to play with. Now the Rat nurses with the Kittens and the strangely assorted family lives in apparently complete harmony.

New Castle News, August 15, 1938
Believe It Or Not Cat Adopts Rats
Yesterday the strange phenomenon of a female Cat the sworn enemy of the Rat adopting two young rodents was related by William B of (...)
Heights Warren O (...) formerly of this city hearing his Dogs barking in an alarmed manner went out to see what was the cause of the disturbance.
There he saw their Cat fighting two Dogs off from a box within a small barn on the place.
Knowing that the Cat had lost all her Kittens in an unknown manner he saw what could be within the box that she was so desperately protecting and taking a look discovered that it was two young Rats.
Story:

1938 - Cat Adopts Rat
Johnnie, a baby Muskrat, was discovered by Fred S. Parmaiee, who was plowing a corn field. At first the Parmalee family fed Johnnie with a spoon. One morning they found the house Cat nursing Johnnie along with her own four tiny, day-old Kittens. She has mothered him ever since. 
Cass City Chronicles

The Glasgow Herald - January 14, 1939
Adoption in the barn.
With infinite care the gray Cat gripped the Kitten by the scruff, and, treading delicately, crossed the barn floor to the old straw box. Cautiously the Kitten was lowered, and laid meowing. Thrice the Cat trod the cement floor, each time bearing a Kitten, but on her return to the door she seemed puzzled. Somehow she remembered another baby. One was missing.
Slowly she roamed about near the door, seeking the missing Kitten. She meowed for it, first softly and tenderly. Gradually, as fright overtook her, the sound became shrill and urgent. She stiffened suddenly as her ear caught the answering call, very faintly, through the darkness. She darted across and, scolding gently, picked up the furry, crying ball.
And so it came about that when I looked into the box next morning I saw her mothering three Kittens and a baby Rat, apparently strayed from a nest somewhere in the barn. It was later that I found the last Kitten at the back of the barn, frozen.
As the days passed the Cat treated the Rat as one of her own. Meticulously she washed it, showed it where to drink, rewarded it, and punished it, exactly as she did with her Kittens, and I wondered how long this paradoxical family could remain together. But tragedy came soon.
Passing the barn one day I heard a thin scream of pain. Entering I saw the Rat bleeding, crawling across the floor towards the box, while a black Cat dashed at it, scratching and biting. The attacker's forays became more vicious and the calls of assistance feebler, but at length they were heard.
Like a gray streak the mother went into battle, mad with fury. Tearing claws ripped Blackie's fur. Crying and spitting, she drove the intruder back until it fled with a yelp of submission.
The mother went over to the broken body of the Rat and meowed comfortingly. Her delicate tongue stroke the broken flesh. Gently she nuzzled the pain-racked body, but she had come too late. The squeaks of pain grew weaker, then ceased. Tenderly she picked up the body and took it to the box.
(Maybe the most cute, sad and tender motherly story).

The Miami News - 14 May, 1939
Atlanta, May 13 - Baby Rats suckled by Cat.
An unusual phenomenon took place at the home of W. L. Zimmerman, residing near Nashville, Tenn., when six motherless baby Rats took refuge with a barnyard mother Cat, after she had lost all but one of her new-born Kittens. The little rodents made themselves right at home, and neither the Cat nor her strange bed-mates seemed to mind.
In Page 20

The Cato Citizen - June 1, 1939
CAT ADOPTS RAT
At Hamlin, Dixie, farmer Ernest Sprague's Cat, has adopted a Rat.
Maternal instinct got the better of her predatory urges after she had found a Rat's nest and destroyed three of the four young. She picked up the fourth, deposited it with her litter of Kittens, and is nursing it impartially.

August 22, 1939 - Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
Cat mothers Mice
Fostoria, Ohio.
Tabby, pet Cat and the best mouser on the Glenn Deckard Farm near here, has had a change of heart and is mothering five baby field Mice which Deckard found in a nest and brought to Tabby, presumably for a feast.

Syracuse Herald Journal - May 1, 1940
Valley Drive Cat plays a trick on nature; raises baby Rats with her own Kittens
"Here is 'Little Tice' and her family of four Kittens and two Rats. The Rats, only a week old and about three inches in length were adopted by the mother Cat yesterday".
MOTHERLY SCENE - which greeted the Herald Journal photographer when he visited the Stearns Poultry Farm at 2303 Valley Drive.
"Little Tice" proudly posed with her family.
(Pictures here):

Clovis News Journal - May 14, 1940
Cat mothers Rats she orphaned
Butler, Pa. - A mother Cat whose Kittens were killed by a Tomcat came upon a family of Rats in a barn at the L. N. Hischberger home.
She killed the mother Rat, but adopted the family of baby Rats as her own, carrying them gently to another barn to raise them.
(Story and correct names, here):

Bakersfield Californian
July 18, 1940
Syracuse, N. J. - A Cat belonging to Mrs. Bertha Teall has adopted two tiny Rats and is mothering them with her 4-week old litter of Kittens. The Cat, a notorious good ratter, amazed Mrs. Teall.

Lima News, September 20, 1940
CAT NURSES RATS - BUNKER HILL Ore
Sept 20 UP - George Ramberg today found his Cat which gave birth to five Kittens last week nursing seven furry objects. The extra pair were baby Rats.

Hammond Times, December 13, 1940
Cat Mothers Baby Rats
After becoming mother of five Kittens, one night the Cat scoured the neighborhood, and she found two baby Rats which she mothers and feeds.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 4, 1941
CAT AND MOUSE PALS
Minneapolis, Minn. (UP) - A white Mouse belonging to Marshall Couch, 17, not only plays with the Couch family Cat, eats from the same dish, sleeps in the same box, but the Cat is nursing a litter of Mice.

Los Angeles Times - April 10, 1941
Yow Yow, a gray Tabby Cat, kills the mother and father of six baby Rats. Yow Yow brings the baby Rats back home to play with her three Kittens at 453 North Mission Road. As Yow Yow carries the Rats one-by-one to their new home, she spies a Mouse on the street. She puts down the baby Rat and eats the Mouse. Then she picks up the baby Rat and continues home. Both the Kittens and baby Rats sleep together. Yow Yow even nurses the Rat babies.
According to the Times: “Feeding time found Kittens and rodents sharing alike and the purring mother nursing her greatly enlarged family”.

TORRANCE HERALD - Torrance, California
THURSDAY APRIL 17, 1941
CAT ADOPTS TWO RATS
ASHTABULA. O. (U.P.)
NEWS OF THE DAY
Bone, a large tiger-striped Cat, has adopted two baby Rats into her family of Kittens. The four nurslings play and feed together.

The news and Courier - May 15, 1941
(Screwy News Roundup)
(6th paragraph): A Los Angeles Cat started nursing a brood of Rats.

Manitowoc Herald Times, July 10, 1941
No Kittens of her own - Cat adopts two Rats
McPherson, Kan. - Lacking Kittens of her own, the four year old Persian Cat owned by Mrs. McPherson has adopted two tiny Rats to mother.

Cat Kills Mother Rat, Adopts Her 6 Young
San Antonio Express - April 10, 1941
A feed-fertilizers plant’s Cat killed a Rat and adopted her 6 young one by one, to the nest of her three Kittens. The Cat began to nurse Kittens and Rats alike. Plant employees said the Cat, in transferring one of the Rats to her nest, dropped it for a minute to catch and eat a Mouse and then resumed her errands.

Cat adopts young Rat, Rodent thrives on new formula - August 7, 1943
When five three day-old Kittens open their eyes at the Production Engineering Plant, 9th St. and Dwight way, they will find a little brother who will surprise them. For mama Cat, bighearted feline that she is, has adopted a baby Rat as a sixth member of the family. Plant employs tell that an old shed torn down on the place uncovered a Rat's nest with five Rats apparently the same age as the Kittens. Inspired by the Berkeley's Anti-Rats Campaign, workers slaughtered the young rodents, but not before the Cat had effected a rescue. Picking up one Ratling by the neck she bore it off triumphantly to the family home where she proceeded to give it liquid refreshment. The Rat, approximately the same size as his brothers and sisters, is reported to be thriving on its present formula.
And in this case, the question is that she rescued him... Just like she would have made with them all if she could have done it. A very good proof of her intentions toward the little baby who was loosing his brothers.

The Register Guard, Eugene, Oregon - Oct. 12, 1943
Cat adopts baby Rat to replace Kitten!
Sacramento - A pet Cat, used to keep Rats out of the Sacramento Wool Company, gave birth to seven Kittens. But one of Pachita's new arrivals died.
So she found a baby Rat, adopted it, and now feeds, washes, and takes care of the Rat like one of her own Kittens. She carefully runs off other Cats who are still good mousers.

The Pampa News - April 7, 1944
CAT ADOPTS BABY RATS: This Tabby, kept by a Galveston rice mill to chase Rats, had a change of heart after she rolled over and accidentally killed her four Kittens.
She adopted a new family... Nine baby Rats, shown above.

LIFE - Google Books, 4 / 22 / 1946
"Mother Cats in Texas, Washington, New York and other places have adopted baby Rats or Mice ad nursed them along with their own Kittens".


Cat Adopts Three Rats - Ottawa Citizen - May 21, 1947
Oneco, AP. Strange bedfellows occupy a nursery set up in a box in the Stanley Becker Store. In addition to her four Kittens, Brownie, a four year old Cat, is feeding three newborn Rats, about the size of mature Mice.
Brownie adopted the Rats after catching them in the premises. Her Kittens are about three weeks old.

The Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld. Tuesday 25 May 1948
Windsor Cat Mothers baby Rats
TORTIE, a Cat owned by Mrs. E. Manson, of New market Road, Windsor, has become foster mother to two young Rats.
It happened this way: Tortie gave birth to five Kittens, three of which were destroyed. A day later Mrs. Manson’s Dog killed a Rat in the yard.
Next day Mrs. Manson noticed two young Rats had joined Tortie’s family and were being fed and cleaned by the Cat. On Sunday night Tortie lost one of the Rats.
Yesterday Tortie was lavishing the same maternal affection on the baby Rat as on her Kittens, and last night Mrs. Manson discovered that the Cat had adopted a third young Rat.
The future of the foster children is precarious.

The Pittsburgh Press - March 5, 1950
Cat adopts Rats instead of eating them
Louisville, Ky., March 4, UP.
A black Cat turned out to be lucky for two baby Rats.
Blackie, a mother Cat with three Kittens, was given a feast of 15 tiny Rats yesterday. Instead of eating them, she adopted them.
This story continues, but with something sad, and as usually not because the Cat suddenly killed the babies, of whom she kept nursing two.

Reading Eagle - March 22, 1950
Jersey City: Minnie, the railroad Cat, has temporarily abandoned her reputation as a good mouser to adopt a baby Mouse. She added the baby to her litter of three Kittens yesterday and since then the Mouse is one of the family.

Herald Journal - Jun 29, 1950 - Cat Nurses Rats
Copenhagen - Farmer Christian Harpoeth of Toender, South Jutland, found his Cat nursing 5 well-fed young Rats.
Some time ago her Kittens had been drowned and since then, the Cat had hidden. When traced she was taking care of the Rats. Now she is mourning the loss of her other children, who had been drowned, too.
(How bad for those who did that... And what a love of hers to cry for some little Rats to whom besides she was mothering...)

RONWOOD DAILY GLOBE, RONWOOD, MICHIGAN
Tuesday May 8, 1951
Seattle, UP
Cat Mothers Rats
Paul Holmes mother Cat didn't waste any time grieving when one of her Kittens died.
She promptly headed into nearby woodland and returned shortly with a new baby in her mouth.
The new baby -now nursed by the mother Cat- is a Rat.
"The Mouse actually is the best eater of the family and often lingers after the Kittens have left the table".

The Milwaukee Journal - Aug. 2, 1951
Cat takes on role on her Rat victim.
Vancouver, B. C.: Dopey, a white and Black Cat from a warehouse, must have been remorseful. Five baby Rats became orphans when she killed a large mother Rat in her prowling by the warehouse. Now the Cat is feeding a little Rat and two litters of Kittens. The other four Rat babies died later.
Dopey is mothering her own Kittens and her daughter's, who passed after two weeks since giving birth.

Morning Avalanche - May 7, 1954
STRANGE mother Cat owned by Mrs Lawrence Miller of Flint has adopted a baby Rat, shown drinking milk from a saucer with its friends. Mrs Miller found a nest of nine baby Rats and gave away five. The mother Cat killed three of the remaining four but for some reason took a liking to the fourth and adopted it. She nurses the Rat along with her offspring. - AP
Picture, here

Newspapers - The Singapore Free Press
18 May 1954 - Page 8
CAT MOTHERED RATS - When her Kittens were destroyed, a Cat owned by Mr. P. Poynter of Denton, Norfolk adopted two baby Rats found on the farm. But Mrs. Poynter objected strongly when, alter growing up, they ran all over the house. So they, too, have just been destroyed.

The Straits Times (Singapore) - March 15, 1955
Osaka, Japan: A Cat here is nursing her four Kittens and a Rat.

Reading Eagle - March 24, 1955
Ohara, Japan: Seikichi Yamaguchi's Cat, Koma, blissfully nurses her 4 Kittens, and a 6-inch Rat.

Mason City Globe Gazette
MASON CITY, IOWA, MONDAY, APRIL 29, 1957
This peaceful maternal scene is enacted daily in the storeroom of a Los Angeles coffee shop.
Yes, that's Baby, a mother Cat, nursing a Mouse! Baby's job is to keep Mice out of the storeroom, but the Mouse squeezed in with Baby's newest litter of four Kittens and "mom" doesn't seem to mind. The Mouse actually is the best eater of the family and often lingers after the Kittens have left the table.

Apr. 29, 1957 - Times Daily
(Repeated, with some variations):
Los Angeles - Ever heard of a Cat adopting a black field Mouse?
Baby, Al Orozco's Cat, had four Kittens recently. Orozco, admiring the Kittens, was amazed to find a field Mouse contentedly nursing with the Kittens.
"She thinks more of that Mouse than she does of her Kittens", said Orozco. "She keeps the Mouse spotless, always nuzzling it and licking it". "What a Cat", Orozco said, "Know why we got her. To keep Mice out of the storeroom - and just look at her..."

Corsicana Daily Sun - July 18, 1957
CAT NURSES MOUSE
House worker Bob McCue made his customary visit to a corner of the warehouse being used as a nursery by an alley Cat and her five. The Cat lay complacently feeding her young ones. She apparently didn't know a 1,12 inch field Mouse was at the dinner.

April 13, 1959
Cat Mothers Baby Rats
A black mother Cat has become a Jackson County celebrity. The silky feline has reversed the natural conduct of her species and adopted two baby Rats that she nurses and protects with fierce devotion.
The strange twist in the law of nature occurred more than a week ago in the William H. Bourgeois farm after the Cat had given birth to five Kittens. Two of them disappeared. At about the same time Bourgeois shifting baled hay saw and killed a large Rat. She left two little Rats too young to forage for themselves. The Cat, in her prowls the loft of the Bourgeois barn found them. Now they replace the two Kittens she lost.
The Rats live in perfect harmony with the Kittens and their mother. They have grown fat and frisky. Instead of fleeing from their enemy of all time they run to her for food and protection. Efforts by members the Bourgeois family to remove the Rats and destroy them brought snarling spitting defiance from the Cat. Scores of persons have to the Bourgeois farm to view the freak adoption. But none will predict the future of the Rats now rapidly reaching full growth. The Cat may be smarter than most people.
Picture:

The Singapore Free Press, 14 April, 1960 - Page 6
Odd things animals do
In a village 80 miles from Saigon, a Cat suckles three Mice. The owner of the Cat, a farmer, finds it difficult to move around his house because of the crowd of unbelievers. While the sight is understandably surprising, it also shows up how our minds are filled with preconceived notions about what is natural in life. The Cat suckling three Mice destroys an established concept of what is natural. Will the South-Africans, for instance, ever shatter their concept of black being an unnatural color for human beings?

Independent Press Telegram, May 5, 1963
Cat mothers Mice (Very hard to find in this page)

The All-American Show System for 1963-64
By Mrs. A. M. Dickie
The Maternal instinct is so strong in Cats that they have been known to suckle puppies, Rabbits and even Rats. In a certain stable there was a stall in which five young Rats were playing. A mother Cat had five Kittens, three of which were taken from her and drowned. Pussy went to the stall caught up two of the little Rats, suckled them and brought them up, which was all the more remarkable as she was a noted enemy and hunter of Rats and Mice.
Denlinger.

Apr. 15, 1965 - Reading Eagle
Cat adopts Mouse - Palermo, Sicilly (UPI): A mother Cat, suckling three Kittens, has adopted a fourth infant: a tiny Mouse. Pensioner Biaggio Martillaro, who owns the Cat, says that the Mouse bumped into the Kittens a week ago, stayed to play with them and was adopted into the family.
(There had to be one also in this year!)

Lebanon Daily News - May 18, 1967
CAT ADOPTS RATS
Crystal, the pet Cat of the maintenance crew at a Chico country club benignly lets one of her foster children, a baby Rat, walk over her paw.
Crystal is raising a litter of baby Rats with her own Kittens. Workmen had found the baby Rats and dropped them in the barrel where Crystal was raising her own so that the Rats would provide a tasty snack for her. Instead the motherly Cat adopted them and is raising them.

The Times Record - May 27, 1967
Cat adopts Mice.
Mori (AP): Olimpio Borz rounded up some big Cats to get rid of Rats and Mice that had been after his Chickens in his Italian alpine town.
After the Pussy posse had done her work, Borz reported he found one of the female Cats in his attic, peacefully nursing two baby Mice who apparently had been orphaned in the campaign.

Jul. 1, 1967 - The Owosso Argus Press
Cat nurses baby Rats
Albuquerque, N. M. - A four year old Siamese Cat is nursing four baby Rats along with her five Kittens at the home of Dan Juech.
The baby Rats were brought home by one of the family's youngsters who held the Cat's mouth until she got used to the idea.


The Free Lance-Star Journal, April 14, 1973

Dear Mother, Why Me?
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1298&dat=19730414&id=EQJOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=MYwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5618,1633683
Cactus the Cat fooled Mother Nature and she might live to regret it. The generous feline had adopted four baby Rats to add to her litter of six Kittens. Her owner, Mrs, Dale Charleston of Tacoma, Wash., said her pet mother Rat died and left her offspring to fend for themselves.
Cactus adopted them and not only feeds them, but also gives them a tongue-licking bath afterwards.

The Evening Independent - Jun. 24, 1970
Cat mothers Rat
Spooky, a mama Cat owned by Mr. and Mrs. Donald Guidry of Atlanta, Tex., evidently hasn't heard that Cats and Rats just aren't supposed to fraternize. Spooky took the tiny Wood Rat to raise along with her Kittens.

Journal News, August 13, 1974
THE JANUARY 1974 letter is from Mrs. Joseph Spa 710 Ave. She remembers when the Cigar Store was at the northwest corner of Third and High and Henry had his (…) her family of nine little Rats on display in the store and her Rats were in a (...) L. J. man had her on (...) worked at the Champion Paper Co. in the stock. Thelma strayed in one day and my dad fed her and she became his pet.
One day a fellow workman came in with nine baby Rats and said "here is a nice meal for her", but instead of killing and eating the Rats Thelma nursed them like her own children. The Rats grew and became large and finally we had to destroy them. Thelma then finally came and lost her life in the 1913. We never saw her after that, but still have a picture of Thelma and her family of Rats.
Sure wish see it. Henry's Mrs. Alma when I'm on you'll be kind enough to let me drop by your home and take a peek at the photo of Thelma.
Correct text, here; maybe it’s the same Thelma of the first picture in the other entry:
http://newspaperarchive.com/journal-news/1974-08-13/page-10?tag=rats+nursed+cat&rtserp=tags/rats-nursed-cat?page=4&psb=relavance

Las Cruces Sun News, December 1, 1975
Cat Mothers Mice - JOHANNESBURG, South Africa
Izzy Dworetzky's Cat has been raising five baby Mice along with her own two Kittens. Farm hands at Sunderbands (...) Estate about 40 miles southwest of Johannesburg recently killed a Mouse and discovered her babies with their eyes still closed. They showed the baby Mice to the Cat as an experiment. She normally goes after Mice, said Izzy Dworetzky, but we were delighted when she fondly caressed them and now has allowed them to suckle. These Mice get along fine too with her own Kittens.

(Taken from an edition translated and published by Charles Schindler in 1976 from Hergiswil, Switzerland).
"A third example is a story describing how a Cat on a strip sailing from New York to Hamburg whose Kittens had been thrown into the sea, took young Rats out of their nest to mother them".

Ocala Star Banner - 25 Jul, 1977
Fluff, a Cat at the J&H Feed Store in Greeneville, Tenn., ate the parents of these two baby Rats on her back but decided to rear infants with her own brood of six.

Now here should be Houan, the Cat who found a baby Mouse in Thailand and adopted him instead of making a good meal; only I'm not sure if she actually gave him her mother milk.

Where in that big ocean will be now the other pearls? ...I’m still looking for all the “Cat breastfeeds Rats / Mice” stories between 1970 and 2001.

Rome News-Tribune - Mar 31, 2002
Cat that nursed Rat among memories of living in Braswell
When our family was at Braswell in Paulding County, the Singletons lived on a farm nearby. They had a large family and some of the boys came to dances that we had. Genevieve Dodd ad I used to walk over to their place to visit with the oldest daughter.
One time we were there and Mr. Singleton took us to the barn to show us something unusual. In the barn loft we found a female Cat with a fairly new litter of Kittens, not unusual within itself. However, the Rat that was nursing along with the Kittens was very unusual. It seems the mama Cat had adopted the Rat and accepted it as one of her Kittens. It nursed right along with the Kittens.

Canadian Press - July 15, 2003 - 05:15 PM
CRANBROOK, Canada - A family awoke Tuesday to find their Cat nursing two Mice along with her seven week-old Kittens.
Irene Weller said one of her daughters found some baby Mice in their home the day before.
"I didn't want Mice in the house". Weller said. So the baby rodents were promptly thrown outside.
But on Tuesday morning, the Weller's saw their Cat Patches nursing and caring for the Mice as if they were part of her litter. She's actually feeding the Mice.
Patches was upset they weren't in the bed. All she wanted to do was lick them.
"When we put them back in the bed Patches calmed right down".

Dongguan, Guangdong - 12/10/03 
Deadly Huntress Mothers Potential Meal
Cats are commonly thought to be every Mouse's nightmare. But a Dongguan resident surnamed Wang has learned this isn't always the case, reported Information Times. He’s seen for himself that a Cat can be a rodent's best friend. Shortly after Wang's Cat gave birth to three Kittens, Wang caught an infant Mouse to feed the mother to keep up her strength, but he was surprised the next day to find the baby Mouse and Kittens happily playing together... And the mother even let the infant Mouse feed from her milk.

May 10, 2004: Cat gets maternal with Rats
A female Cat in Changchun, Jilin Province, shows maternal love to Rats when she breastfeeds both her own Kittens and six baby Rats at the same time. A woman has a female Cat, which recently delivered four Kittens. One of her friends later gave her six baby Rats, so that the Cat could eat them during the breastfeeding time. However, to the surprise of all, the mother feeds them too.

Cat Gives Birth To Mouse-Like Kitten
(CBS4 News) TUNISIA - Mar 13, 2006 - 3:47 pm US/Eastern
A Cat in Tunisia has given birth to something strange.
According to the owner of the Cat, the litter included 5 regular Kittens, and one that more resembles a Mouse.
The owner says the nose, mouth and ears look like that of a Mouse, but the rest of the body is that of a Cat. The mother Cat doesn't seem to notice or mind. She's nursing and taking care of it, just like the Kittens.

2006-06-04 - 13:45:41 - China Daily
Two baby Mice rest near a Cat's head as she feeds her new litter on a farm in Dongfeng County, northeast China's Liaoning Province. The owner says she gave the Mice to the Cat to eat, but the feline soon adopted them.

China Pets - 2006: Mimi Is The Mother Of Four Kittens And A Rat From China. 
It was one of two Rat babies that her owner brought for her, few days after Mimi gave birth.
Surprisingly, Mimi cleaned them up by licking. The two Rat babies haven't opened their eyes at that time; they crawled over to Mimi, found her nipples and started drinking milk.
One of her Rats passed away in an accident. However, Mimi's still breastfeeding the remaining Rat and Kittens everyday.

April 11, 2007 - Mother Cat In Shijiazhuang
The Cat was brought into a children's clothing store to catch Mice, reports Yanzhao City News.
Ten days ago, the Cat gave birth to five Kittens. "She stays in the box all day long, taking care of her babies, but three days ago, my colleague found a small Mouse playing with the Kittens", said a spokesman for the store in Shijiazhuang City.
The Cat brought the Mouse to her residence in the market one day after she gave birth to her Kittens.
"The Cat was protecting the Mouse, and would become alert if anyone came too close".
The store staff threw the Mouse out once, but immediately the Cat -who dotes upon the Mouse as if it were one of her offspring-, showing distress and searching for her baby, ran to bring it back and let it play with her Kittens.

Mama Cat nurses baby Mice - 13 May 2007
A mother Cat in the Turkish city of Zonguldak shocked her owners recently with her adopted family, a group of baby Mice she feeds alongside her own Kittens. Placed in a shed to catch Mice, the Cat, who had just given birth, began nursing and caring for the baby Mice who now sleep and play with their feline siblings.

dumbblnddzzy (10630) ranked 85 out of 5,710 in cats - 2007
http://www.mylot.com/
Yes Cat's quite often come to the rescue of some baby or another. It is quite common here in the US for this to be happening. My friend's Cat nursed some Mice as the momma had died. It was the cutest thing you ever saw... Lori

Dachsie's Bulletin Board
patty23
09-13-2007, 06:04 PM
I also heard of this on the news but never saw any pics. Isn’t it funny how animals are, we just never know. When I was a young girl my bro brought home a friend from the navy.
We were down at the pond and he found a baby Muskrat on the bank. He picked it up and I asked what was he going to do with it.
He said he was taking it up to my mom to place with the Kittens we had.
Now him being a city boy, I told him that mother Cat is going to think it is a big Rat and eat it.
Well, lo and behold that old mother Cat nursed that Muskrat and when it was big enough my mom took it back to the pond.
I was young and picture taking back then never occurred to me or I would have taken plenty, wished I did.

Cat Miracles: Inspirational True Stories of Remarkable Felines - Google Books, 2008
Joseph tells an even more remarkable story in the instance of a barnyard Cat in Beaumont, Jersey, England, that adopted a baby Mouse. The Cat had eaten the little rodent's mother with great relish, but then, instead of bringing the helpless Mouse back to her own Kittens to be a live demonstration of hunting skills, the Cat had pity on the tiny thing and brought it back into her fold and began nurturing it together with her own Kittens. Several weeks later the Mouse, having survived the attentions of his feline siblings, wandered off into the nearby woods. Then, as astonishing as it may seem, the mother Cat, distraught at loosing one of her babies, yowled mournfully into the night until the wayward Mouse returned home to the strangest nest a Mouse has ever occupied.

From Topix, Local News, Honolulu Forum, 2008:
"I had a pet, momma, Tabby Cat that would nurse domesticated, Irish Gray, baby Rats! But, when the momma Rat came around looking for her baby Rats, the mommy would attack".

June 2008 - And A Mother In Yantai
A pet Cat in China has adopted a Rat which she is nursing alongside her four Kittens.
Sun Shujun, of Yantai City, says the Rat has been living with her Cat since the Kittens were born four weeks ago.81 year old Sun says that a neighbor came to see the Kittens on the day they were born and was amazed to see a Rat suckling alongside them.
"At the beginning, I thought I must have seen wrong. So I took a flashlight and had a clear look", said the neighbour.
The Rat not only drinks Cat's milk, but also plays with its Kitten brothers and sisters, according to the Qilu Evening Post.
The Cat reportedly treats the Rat exactly the same as her natural Kittens and it has become part of her family. Sun reckons her maternal instincts must have overwhelmed her predatory instincts to allow her to adopt an animal she would normally see as prey.

Book "Rabbits, Cats And Cavies" - 2009
A remarkable curiosity of natural history is reported from Swanage. A Cat belonging to Miss Vincent of the Victoria Royal Hotel, was the proud mother of four Kittens, which she was rearing in a Cow shed. One of the servants on going to the shed was surprised to find a Rat suckling with the Kittens, the Cat nursing the rodent with as much solicitude as her own progeny.

10 October, 2010
A Cat Feeding A Small Rat in Sivasagar. My birthday present!!! - (It's October 11)
Oh, how I was waiting this... And the video appeared right in my birthday. It also must have come in the most right moment, with some threats which may come from the countries between Middle East and China. This must have been the year of all those real Cats (with all the stories I found), from past, present, and of course, a future of nursing many more Rats and Mice!

Yahoo Answers - 21 Nov 2010
"No one really owns a Cat, they cannot be possessed. As for having a Rat as a pet along with a bunch of Cats, yes, this is very possible. We had a Cat who miscarried her litter and was grieving over her loss. And a friend had 3 young Rats who had lost their mother, we put the Rats to nurse with the mama Cat and this was perfect. Our Cats accepted the new babies as part of our family. Life expectancy for Rats is only about 3 years, it was sad when they died. We were just as attached to them had they been feline children. They died within 3 to 6 months of each other. They were such little sweethearts. They never knew they were Rats.

crafty45 - 2011
Just an adorable picture - Thank you for sharing that.
As our children were growing up, twice we had a Dog and a Cat at the same time.
One time we had a gorgeous Calico mother Cat that had four babies. Right in the middle of the four, we could always find my daughter's Rat, nursing with the Kittens.
The mother Cat would lay and clean those babies by the hour - And she took care of that Rat just like it was her own baby. In fact, even when the Rat became an adult, that Cat treated him like her baby.

22-04-2011
http://issuu.com/dimeoxide/docs/
Page 17
"Arch-enemies form unlikely bond - Fans of cartoon nemesis Tom and Jerry have reason to be outraged over the show's factual authenticity in Thailand, Cats and rodents apparently form quite different partnerships. In Samut Prakan Province's Pra Pradaeng District, the neighbours of Sompong Koocharoen were puzzled to see a two-year-old female Cat breastfeeding a small baby Rat along with one of her own new-born Kittens.
Mrs Sompong said her Cat had just delivered three Kittens on March 1, but two of them had been separated from their mother and adopted by a friend. She said that a week after the Kittens were separated, the mother returned home with a young baby Rat -its body still red and hairless- and put it beside her Kitten.
"I thought she would give food only for her baby, but she let the Rat drink her milk along with her Kitten", Mrs. Sompong said. The unlikely family have become a neighborhood sensation, with community members inundating the household with photo requests.
Story from Matichon Online".

2011
I got a Kitten (Callie) and two baby hooded Rats (Comet and Ajax) on the same day. They were raised together.
They weren’t aware that they weren’t natural friends, they just knew they were family. When Callie grew up and had Kittens, I was worried that her instincts to protect her young might provoke her to harm the Rats. These Rats did have a cage, but it was only to eat in and they had a second one that they used as a litter box. The rest of the time, they had the run of the house, just like the Cat.
So, I had reason to be concerned. On the third day, I took the Rats into the room where Callie had her Kittens. I watched carefully, to see what Comet and Ajax would do, and to see how Callie would behave with them.
First one Rat then the second climbed into the box with Callie and her little family. They sniffed around at Callie and her babies, then settled in to feed alongside the Kittens.
When it came time to groom her Kittens, she grabbed each of them in turn and cleaned them and also did the same with each of the Rats. I never worried after that. They were truly integrated.

6-11-12
Another mother in her right place...

Here, something I wrote about the excellent mothers
described and shown in this entry:

At Last United

So What Has Made Our People,
From Days Forgotten,
To Fear And Chase Each Other?
And Why Did We Have To Hunt You,
If We Could Love You So Much?
---
The Time Had To Come For Us
In Which Cats, And Mice, And Rats,
Could At Last Unite Their Lives,
With All The Love Each One Has,
And Everyone Living Free.
---
For Now We Can't Stand More Chains
Than Those Of Heart, Soul And Milk...
When Your Newborns Need A Mother,
A Mother Cat There Will Be
With Mice Or Rats To Breastfeed.
---
Even Names Shall Be In The Past...
No Cat Will Hunt Rats And Mice.
We Just Want Them All Alive,
By Mothers Breastfeeding Babes,
And Brothers Sharing Their Meals.


And I wrote in other entry: "From the beginning of times, this was commended to us..." -referring precisely to what all these mothers did- "...And now at last we started doing it".
But now I can see that it happened through all the centuries since we started to count the time.
I also read in an article: "A Cat has been known to nurse and bring up a Rat with her own Kittens" ...But it's clear that she wasn't in any way the exception to the rule, for now the exception is a Cat who doesn't breastfeed Rats or Mice".
So what we really have -at least in some newspapers, because I never found similar cases in Spanish, for example-, is a wonderful and true never ending story.