‘Takes a village’: Single mama dog puts centuries of rivalry aside to partner up with feline roommate to co-parent her puppies

If there’s one aspect of our society that’s in dire need of cultural reform, it’s that of parenthood. Everywhere you look, someone claims that someone else is doing the right thing wrongly or the wrong thing rightly, all while grading family units by the parts rather than the sum. Indeed, why judge parenthood by anything other than the love everyone within the family displays for one another? Better yet, why judge parenthood at all?

Feeling this deep in her soul, one golden retriever mama threw her paws up and went rogue on the societal expectations of motherhood by officially inviting her cat bestie to also be a mom to her new puppies, and this revolution is being televised on TikTok.

Distributed by @pubity courtesy of Collab’s @hannahcolson, the look in dog mama’s eyes is an obtusely relatable one. There she stands, complete with a defeated posture and dropping eyelids, as one of her pups whines incessantly over some mystery matter that mama has turned the house inside out to find, but came away empty-handed.

Next to the pup is the soon-to-be cat mama in question, who was presumably dragged to the scene by the dog to show her exactly what she’s been dealing with. Upon witnessing the pup’s cries, however, the cat wastes no time getting down to the baby’s level, wrapping it in a protective hug, and giving cat smooch after cat smooch all along its little puppy noggin, calming it down instantly. Dog mama, overjoyed with the extra help, takes the opportunity to go lie down for a minute. It’s official; they’re a team now.

Of course, there’s still probably going to be some nosy neighbor who can’t keep themselves from judging these two, and will subsequently demand to know which parent is considered the better of the two. They may be disappointed to hear, then, that dog mama and cat mama are equally competent guardians. Per Hill’s Pet, even though dogs are well-known for being territorial and alert while cats are often characterized as fickle and passive, cats actually tend to be just as protective of their loved ones as dogs are. Cats have even been known to warn humans of things like cancer, so you just know that cat mama is going to make sure this puppy is on time for all of his checkups.

Indeed, while the overtired dog mama may seem like the biggest winner here at first, it’s the puppy who scored the biggest victory from this arrangement. He may not know it yet, but the youngster can now look forward to a much richer, much more culturally diverse upbringing as he’s raised on the wisdom of both his dog mama and his cat mama. Dog mama will teach him about his wolf heritage, while cat mama will engage his mind and soul with the ancient feline arts of beefing with laser pointers and hiding in strange places. He’ll have to make his own choices on his relationship with water, but then, which child doesn’t? You really don’t know what you’re in for, kid, and that’s enviable.