Finegan

http://www.komo1000news.com/stories/39693.htm (Source of the story below)

This is a story about a mother, a baby in dire need and how the two came together.

It didn't matter that they didn't come from the same place, or look at all alike -- they weren't even the same species! But instinct took over when the need was greatest.

Debby Cantlon of Seattle explains: "He doesn't know he's a squirrel; he thinks he's a dog."

She's talking about Finegan, the squirrel. He could be excused for thinking he's a dog, that's how he's being raised.

Rescued at just a few days old, Finegan had fallen from a tree, his mother beside him, dead.

"I didn't think that he was going to make it, he was so dehydrated," says Cantlon.

A friend brought Finegan to Cantlon. She has a knack saving injured birds, squirrels, and raccoons. But Finegan's eyes weren't even open yet -- it was touch and go.

Then Debby's dog Mademoiselle Giselle stepped in.

"Apparently she thought it was a puppy of hers and she was gonna have him, no matter what."

Debby continued to bottle feed the squirrel, but Giselle pulled the extra shifts. Finegan began nursing right alongside the five puppies -- just another littermate burrowing for position.

Now, at six weeks old, while the puppies are still barely walking, Finegan is a rambunctious juvenile. He's strong, can climb just about anything and is into everything.

Finegan was fascinated by KOMO 4 News photographer Randy Carnell and his camera -- he wouldn't stop crawling all over it, nibbling everything, including Randy.

All this is a sign, says Debby, that Finegan is close to being ready to go back into the wild. Once he can crack open and eat nuts and seeds, it will be time.

"My biggest reward is to watch them go free," says Cantlon. "It just makes my heart soar."

But, before then, there will still be a few last bottles and a lot of snuggling with his littermates. While they take a midday nap, Cantlon whispers in the background, "That's what I get out of this. What a gift, what a gift.