Golden Retriever Heroically Finds Abandoned Kitten in His Backyard

Anytime I think about a dog performing a heroic act, Lassie is usually who pops into my head... but honestly, there are real dogs who aren't fictional being heroes every single day. We've seen the headlines countless times over the years — saving humans from drowning, helping their people as trained service dogs, the list goes on and on. We might be two different species, but dogs are so loyal that they can't help but try to lend a hand when we need one, and that's one of the best things about them.

And while the dog featured in this TikTok video may not have saved a human , he's still a hero, especially to the kitten who may not be here without him discovering him hiding in his backyard.

On Wednesday, July 24, @alywiththedogs shared this sweet video of her Golden Retriever , Tristan, after he finally got her to listen to him when he was trying to alert her to something he heard in the backyard: a tiny black kitten!

"He heard him yesterday and has been trying to tell me ever since," she explained in the video. "We finally spotted the little guy tucked into the grass by our shed. None of the other dogs care but Tristan is desperate to help!"

It definitely looks that way, because this sweet guy is taking such good care of the little kitten, who doesn't appear to be more than a few weeks old (if that). Innately, Tristan knows to be gentle — he's so sweet!

Best of all, they decided to keep the kitty, though I have a feeling that Tristan wouldn't have had it any other way. Sometimes, the Cat Distribution System works exactly the way it needs to. This cat was meant to find their family.

Dogs Raising Kittens

Tristan seems to have a strong dad instinct about this kitten, and as it turns out, it's not unheard of.

However, it is a bit more common for this to happen to female dogs, which means he's a bit of a trendsetter. It all goes back to their maternal instinct, which can be so strong that they don't care if the baby in question is of a different species — they just have the drive to care for it.

"It can cause mother dogs to adopt and raise kittens as their own, and a mother dog can start lactating if she takes in young kittens," cat behavior consultant Stephen Quandt told Newsweek.

That doesn't exactly apply to Tristan, but I don't doubt he'll be the best dad ever to this little kitty. It's a good thing he was there — who knows what could have happened if he never found the kitten?