I was surprized to even see this on TV and to hear the 'shock' that this
could be done -

We have had cats nurse puppies and dogs nurse kittens in our family ever
since I was a little girl!  Have pictures of some of them!  Most recently
when our Sharpei/Chow mix gave birth a couple - 3 years ago our cat who
had 'grown up' with the mama - nursed the puppy while the mama went back
to laboring!  It was only a one time thing as far as I know - and I
didn't have a camera handy!

We had a cat who 'tandemed' her 3 month old kitten and her newborn
kittens until the younger ones were given away at 9 weeks or so, the
older kitten nursed for almost 2 years . . .

We have had 2 kittens who were very young, one was a pound kitten that
the vet said was only 4 weeks when we got her and the other was barely 6
weeks and both nursed for a long time - one on a 'silky' scarf and the
other on a cotton 'thermal' blanket - she would pull one of the threads
out as a 'nipple'.

I have a post card from the 50's or 60's of a hen sitting on a brood of
kittens!

I suspect this has been going on for a long time!  After all where did
the idea for Tarzan come from!

Katherine Catone, LLLL, IBCLC