A Chinese animal lover has been left stunned after his beloved cat allegedly gave birth to a Chihuahua.
The 74-year-old owner Jia Weinuan has found himself at the centre of a media storm after claiming he personally delivered the Chihuahua puppy from his pregnant cat.
But despite its feline origins, the one-month-old animal looks more and more like a Chihuahua as it grows up, reports the People’s Daily Online.
Jia lives with his partner, two cats and five dogs in the Kui Yuan district of Xuzhou.
But he is certain that the bizarre creature is not the product of interbreeding, as all the dogs are female and none of them are Chihuahuas.
He added that the mother – a three-year-old American Shorthair called Niuniu – is a ‘good cat’ who would never ‘do bad things without us knowing’.
‘She rarely leaves the house so she would not be meeting with strange dogs outside,’ he added.
Although Jia’s other cat is a male Thai breed, called Dongman, the father of the controversial litter is actually a male Shorthair belonging to a friend.
Owner Jia has been left completely baffled by the unusual birth, but insists that he personally cut the umbilical cords and cannot understand how the mystery creature came to be.
He has even argued with his family over the bizarre birth, as family members visit and immediately notice the animal’s uncanny resemblance to a dog.
The ‘Chihuahua’ was the first to be born in the litter of five ‘kittens’, in the fifth time that the mother cat has given birth.
Jia added that he didn’t notice how the animal looked when it was born, as he was busy bringing its siblings into the world.
Jia claims that the ‘dog’ was the first to be delivered and plays well with its siblings, although it is much smarter and is always the first to get its share of the mother’s milk.
But Jia’s partner first drew attention to the baby animal’s strange appearance later in the day, pointing out that it didn’t look anything like the mother cat and in fact more closely resembled a dog.
Since then the animal has become increasingly ‘dog-like’.
Nothing about the animal now resembles a cat except for its paws, claims Jia.
The owner also insists that the animal makes a ‘chi chi’ sound, rather than the mewling more traditionally made by a kitten.
The ‘Chihuahua’ and its four siblings get on well and play together, although Jia added that the ‘dog’ is a lot smarter and is always first to enjoy its share of the mother’s milk.
But Jia is most baffled by the fact that the animal’s penis seems to be in the wrong place.
‘Male cats have their sexual organs under their bottoms,’ said Jia. ‘But the penis of the baby creature is under its belly, like a dog.’
All the other kittens in the litter have already been homed. But tragically nobody is willing to offer a home to the ‘Chihuahua’.
Jia added: ‘A dog born from a cat is not a good omen. I will keep it for now and see what happens. But I am 74 years old and not a person who likes to lie.
‘After all these years I have never heard of dogs and cats cross-breeding, but I really did deliver this ‘Chihuahua’ personally.
‘This really is a puzzle to me.’
