Brazilian Aline da Silva holds her dog, named Dog, as her neighbour's cat Mimi nurses what its owner Cassia Aparecida de Souza claims are Mimi's own offspring born with dog traits
Edison Vara  /  Reuters
Brazilian Aline da Silva holds her dog, named Dog, as her neighbor's cat Mimi nurses what its owner Cassia Aparecida de Souza had claimed are Mimi's own offspring born.
updated 11/22/2006 11:14:46 AM ET 2006-11-22T16:14:46

Brazil’s cat-puppy mystery has been solved.

Blood tests refute a Brazilian woman’s claim that her cat had given birth to three puppies, geneticist Adil Pacheco said Tuesday.

Cassia Aparecida de Souza, 18, from a poor neighborhood of Passo Fundo in southern Brazil, said last Friday that her cat Mimi had given birth to the three puppies as well as three kittens, which did not survive.

“People who aren’t experts often imagine things,” said Pacheco, director of the Institute of Biological Sciences of the University of Passo Fundo. “All the facts contradict her.”

Pacheco, who was asked by a local newspaper to conduct a chromosome test to check the spectacular claim which gained wide media attention, said mammals sometimes nursed the young from another species.

Copyright 2012 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

Discuss:

Discussion comments

,

Most active discussions

  1. votes comments
  2. votes comments
  3. votes comments
  4. votes comments
  1. Brazilian Aline da Silva holds her dog, named Dog, as her neighbour's cat Mimi nurses what its owner Cassia Aparecida de Souza claims are Mimi's own offspring born with dog traits
    Edison Vara / Reuters
    Jump to text

    Brazil’s cat-puppy mystery has been solved. Bloo...

  2. Jump to discussion

    Did Brazilian cat have puppies? Tests are in...