Cat adopts chicken

A farmhouse cat has adopted a chicken after she became the only survivor of a fox attack. Tiny chick Gladys was rescued by its owners and brought into the house two and a half months ago.

But it was Snowy the cat who took over the job of looking after the traumatised chicken and now the pair are inseparable. Jane Etheridge, of Middleton, Suffolk. said the unlikely alliance began when one of her bantam hens hatched 14 chicks including Gladys.

But after just two days she found just three of the birds left and a pile of feathers after a fox paid a visit. Two of the chicks later died but Gladys survived and was brought into the farmhouse in a box to build her strength where she was befriended by 10-year-old Snowy.



Mrs Etheridge, 69, said: "Snowy cleaned her and washed her. Gladys is now about two-and-a-half months old and is our pet. She still comes into the house to play.

"She comes in and bounces up and down in front of Snowy and he just stands there and takes it and puts his arm around her.

"They are the best of friends, very much so, and when she first started going out she would not go unless they went together."