<!--StartFragment --> For about as long as she can remember, Debby Cantlon says, friends and strangers have brought her animals in need. So it wasn't much of a surprise when someone asked her if she'd care for a newborn squirrel found at the base of a tree somewhere near Renton.

 Debby Cantlon, who plans to release Finnegan, the young squirrel, back into the wild, bottle-fed the infant squirrel after it was brought to her house. Cantlon, who has cancer, says rescuing injured animals is therapeutic for her.

 <!--StartFragment --> When Cantlon took in the tiny creature and began caring for him, she found herself with an unlikely nurse's aide: her pregnant Papillon, Mademoiselle Giselle.

<!--StartFragment --> Finnegan was resting in a nest in a cage just days before Giselle was due to deliver her puppies.

<!--StartFragment --> Cantlon and her husband watched as the dog dragged the squirrel's cage — twice — to her own bedside before she gave birth.

<!--StartFragment --> Cantlon was concerned, yet ultimately decided to allow the squirrel out — and the inter-species bonding began.

<!--StartFragment --> Finnegan rides a puppy mosh pit of sorts, burrowing in for warmth after feeding, and eventually working his way beneath his new litter mates.

<!--StartFragment --> Two days after giving birth, mama dog Giselle allowed Finnegan to nurse; family photos and a videotape show her encouraging him to suckle alongside her litter of five pups.

<!--StartFragment --> Now, Finnegan mostly uses a bottle, but still snuggles with his "siblings" in a mosh pit of puppies, rolling atop their bodies and sinking in deeply for a nap.

<!--StartFragment --> Finnegan and his new litter mates, five Papillion puppies, get along together as if they were meant to.

<!--StartFragment --> Finnegan naps after feeding.

<!--StartFragment --> Finnegan makes himself at home with his new litter mates, nuzzling nose-to-nose for a nap after feeding.