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updated 3:46 p.m. ET July 16, 2007

BELGRADE, Serbia - Man's best friend helped save a tiny cat.

A 15-day-old female panther named Milica has been adopted by a Rhodesian Ridgeback after her mother refused to feed her and tried to kill her in the Belgrade Zoo.

"The mother panther has killed all her cubs since 1999," zookeeper Dragan Jovanovic said.

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"We believe she has been traumatized by the sound of NATO bombs" during airstrikes in the Serbian capital intended to stop former President Slobodan Milosevic's crackdown against ethnic Albanian separatists in 1999, he said.

Now Milica fights with several newborn puppies over milk from her adopted mother. She also appears to enjoy every bit of attention she gets from her new family.