I have seen a few threads on here concerning animals and nursing young so i
thought I would share two strange but true experiences.

1)  A neighbor owned two unrelated female beagles.  One was very old, the
other just an adult.  The younger of the two had 10! pups and they all lived.
Now, this is a small dog which generally has a litter of between four and
seven pups.  So I suppose the feeding was a challenge.  When I made these
dogs' aquaintance, the pups were 6 wks old and nursing--from both females.  It
seems that the older dog's milk came in, probably from allowing the pups to
suckle from day one even tho not her own litter, and perhaps because there was
a need in the "pack" for more milk to be produced to maintain survival.
Funniest was that at 6 wks she growled at the pups who were nursing from their
mother to get them to come nurse from her.

2) We had kittens last June.  My books all said mother cats start the weaning
process at 5 or so wks and should be completely weaned by about 10wks at
latest.  I took a great picture in November (when they were 5 months old) of
the momma cat and her two kittens curled up in my bed--she was asleep, they
were nursing, and basically as big as her.  My husband labeled the picture:
Co-Sleeping, Extended Tandem Nursing Cat Mother--Brainwashed By Owner's
Strange Parenting Styles!

Funny how I am looking at breastfeeding of *all* types these last few years,
and being interested in what is "normal"--what "they" say should happen or
what happens if left alone?

Joy Berry-Parks
LLLL, Little Rock, AR
Attachment Parenting Group of AR
"Childhood decides."   ---------John Paul Sartre