For about as long as she can remember, Debby Cantlon says, friends and strangers have brought her animals in need. So it wasn't much of a surprise when someone asked her if she'd care for a newborn squirrel found at the base of a tree somewhere near her home.




Debby Cantlon, who plans to release Finnegan, the young squirrel, back into the wild, bottle-fed the infant squirrel after it was brought to her house.

When Cantlon took in the tiny creature and began caring for him, she found herself with an unlikely nurse's aide: her pregnant Papillon, Mademoiselle Giselle.

Finnegan was resting in a nest in a cage just days before Giselle was due to deliver her puppies.





Cantlon and her husband watched as the dog dragged the squirrel's cage twice to her own bedside before she gave birth.





Cantlon was concerned, yet ultimately decided to allow the squirrel out and the inter-species bonding began.





Finnegan rides a puppy mosh pit of sorts, burrowing in for warmth after feeding, and eventually working his way beneath his new litter mates.





Finnegan and his new litter mates, five Papillion puppies, get along together as if they were meant to.

Completely at peace!