Mother cat adopts baby squirrel

CARTHAGE, Mississippi - Emmy the cat could win kitty mother of the year.

She’s stepped up to the plate to help an orphan, taking in a baby squirrel.

Now she’s providing the squirrel a plate at the table along with the rest of her brood of kitties.

"She's very protective of it. If it starts to move and she don't like where its going she'll reach up and pull it back and start licking it and taking care of it just like she would one of her kittens," says Emmy’s owner Jim Watkins.

Jim and his wife Karen run an animal shelter in Carthage, Mississippi.

That’s how Emmy got her extended family.

Her previous owner lived in a place that didn’t allow pets, so she caller her vet for advice.

"I seem to be the go-to girl from my vet. Anytime someone has a cat they can't take care of, I'm the one they call. That's how we wound up with 18 cats and a squirrel," says Karen.

The squirrel literally landed in at their doorstep, falling out of a nest in Karen and Jim’s yard.

That’s when Emmy went into action.

"And she put the squirrel in the box with the kittens and she just immediately accepted it and adopted it, started feeding it, has raised it just like hers, " says Jim.

They’ve named the squirrel Rocky, and say he’ll probably be with the family for the long haul.