Dog nursing two kittens left outside animal shelter

A black Chihuahua and two nursing kittens were rescued outside an animal shelter closed for the holiday.

The unlikely trio was discovered by a police officer in a suburb of Dallas. The mother pup had been tied to a pole next to a cardboard box over the Fourth of July weekend.

“I looked and saw two little balls of fur with her and I thought it was a couple puppies,” officer Steven Johns told the local CBS station.

The officer took the three animals out of the heat and gave them food and water, according to CBS. When he got a better look, he realized the tiny creatures were actually kittens.

“I went to move them into a cage and moved the mama dog out of the way ― much to my surprise mama dog is nursing two kittens instead of two puppies,” he said.

The unusual threesome was turned over to Deborah Franklin, a foster mom with Paws Patrol.

They are “doing great,” Lisa Goodman, president of Paws Patrol, told Yahoo News over the phone. “The mom is doing great with the kittens. They’ll be together until they’re weaned,” she added. The organization rescues 300 to 400 animals a year.

Meanwhile, the Chihuahua is keeping a close eye on her babies, cleaning them and nursing them, noted foster mom Franklin. “She didn’t care what species it was. All she knew, she was a mother and these were babies and they needed her,” she said.

Franklin told CBS that she plans to name the male kitten Stevie, after the police officer who saved the threesome.