My dog, Bessie, had strong maternal instincts, even though she never had her own puppies. Whenever she came across any babies – puppies, kittens, children, etc.- she’d gravitate towards them immediately. 

I remember once I took her leash off and let her explore the ground floor of our building, and her nose caught a whiff of something interesting. Eventually, she discovered a box and got excited. 

While she was looking at them, a cat came out of nowhere and mauled Bessie. Turns out the box housed her kittens. This shocked Bessie, and she shrieked and took off while the mother cat continued to threaten her. I was worried, so I stood in between Bessie and the mother cat to ensure she didn’t harm her further. 

It was an interesting situation. There was Bessie, whose maternal instincts wanted to care for the kittens, there was the mother cat who was ready to do anything to protect them, and of course, I was ready to do anything to protect Bessie (I am a man, but I always felt like I was Bessie’s mother). And I didn’t want to harm the cat because I knew she was doing the right thing, and I respected her for it. Also, I knew this cat and fed her a few times, so she felt calmer when I was there. 

Motherhood is a beautiful thing. Human mothers put up with our shit almost all their lives. Animals usually take care of their babies for a short period, but they do a fantastic job, and many would give up their lives to save their young ones, even though no one taught them to do it. It’s all in their instinct. 

I tried to train Bessie to avoid getting close to baby animals when their mothers were around. But it hardly ever worked. Her maternal instincts were too strong. 

When I used to rescue kittens and puppies, sometimes she’d help me take care of them. 

I initially drew this comic on Mother’s Day last year, but I got distracted and forgot about it. I got some time recently and put it together. Hope you like it!

I wrote and drew these for Mother’s day.