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Lioness Holding a Kitten

April 6, 2012 at 12:30pm | by AP

By Ernest Reshovsky, 1935…

This photo was printed in a 1968 Reader’s Digest with this caption…

Little Tyke is the name of this lioness, born in the zoo at Tacoma, Washington. Nursed for a broken leg, she became a rancher’s house pet, enjoying perfume, flowers, her own bed, a diet of milk and cereal. She never touches meat-which may account for the complacency of her kitten friend.

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Category: Cats. Tags: aww, cat, cute, friends, kitten, lion.

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Comments

Tiffany M Oliver says:

December 18, 2012 at 11:04 pm

This is beautiful.

Coylene Tatzel says:

December 18, 2012 at 11:34 am

everything needs a hug.

Tierra Rideout says:

November 18, 2012 at 5:04 pm

it was 1968 people!
obviously didn’t plan on devouring the kitten.
and nobody thought about how important a diet was to lions.
time was different then@!

Frank Grigonis says:

October 22, 2012 at 6:04 pm

Do not endanger animals in order to get cute pictures.

Coty Leslie says:

July 24, 2012 at 8:49 pm

I suppose it would be possible for the lioness to adopt a kitten if its cubs where killed and it got depressed.

Rebecca A Allen says:

July 19, 2012 at 10:34 am

It is a beautiful picture but it is sad to me. Felines require meats in their diets because without it they do go blind. It also is not safe to feed your feline tuna or cow milk because of the damage it does to their digestive systems. The “raw” diet some of you are talking about is not proven to be any healthier than pet food from a can or a bag & most of the more expensive brands of pet food contain the exact same ingredients as its cheaper counterparts. You should do more research & talk to a vet before feeding your pet anything that is not designed for your pet. Also this is a very old picture & the USDA didn’t have many if any laws at that point in time to protect the lion or its typical diet. Here is a link hope it helps everyone who has serious issues with the picture. http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/USCODE-2009-title7/pdf/USCODE-2009-title7-chap54.pdf

Tierra Rideout says:

November 18, 2012 at 5:04 pm

it was 1968
js

Rebecca A Allen says:

November 18, 2012 at 5:04 pm

I did say, ” Also this is a very old picture & the USDA didn’t have many if any laws at that point in time to protect the lion or its typical diet.” The laws I mentioned didn’t pass until the 1970s.

Alane Babcock says:

May 3, 2012 at 8:19 pm

this is too cute.

Nancy Post says:

April 29, 2012 at 8:34 am

Looks like that lion was declawed.

Melanie Goad says:

June 12, 2012 at 7:04 pm

very good observation, considering cats mostly use their back claws to climb trees, so declawing the lion would not effect its abillitys to do that point of its natural nature and still allow it to do that.

Deven Childs says:

April 27, 2012 at 9:50 am

Lions need meat. It’s too late for this one but anyone else needs to understand milk and cereal is not Enough.(I’m not so sure about cereal. But I am sure they need meat. Seams to me cereal fiber would give them the runs. Compared to an all meat diet this would be like a human eating only coconuts, grapes, and dates.)

Melanie Goad says:

June 12, 2012 at 7:04 pm

Correct…but I don’t know how that would work exactly with the lion and the kitten, considering their both females and the kitten offers no imediot threat and the lion has been demesticated.

Ingrid Graudins says:

April 21, 2012 at 11:19 am

with no meat she had to have gone blind and was malnourished. how sad.

Continental Colonel says:

June 3, 2012 at 2:35 pm

No…freaking…kidding. Don’t you just love how humans assume animals eat what we do? Like how to give our dogs and cats treats, we will buy them a canned food and toss it in the microwave like some Healthy Choice Frozen TV dinner mistake, instead of giving them slices of fresh tuna or salmon, or even a few chunks of raw healthy steaks.

Melanie Goad says:

June 12, 2012 at 6:49 pm

Yea…well wouldn’t it be nice if all of us could afford to feed our animals fresh steaks all the time…

Marlana Cortes says:

June 26, 2012 at 1:19 pm

listen you people make no damn sense can you afford to give a cat fresh tuna or steak for dinner NO, do either know how to take care of a lion NO! who in the hell said that you go blind from not eatting meat?? that measn all veggans go blind REALLY LADY!!!! just enjoy the damn picture and stop acting like you know it all

Frank Childs says:

July 2, 2012 at 2:49 pm

Marlana Cortes – Cats are carnivores. They need meat. People amd dogs are omnivores, we can eat meat and plants. Cats need meat to survive.

Continental Colonel says:

July 2, 2012 at 6:49 pm

because raw, fresh meat is what provides a lion with 100% of its nutrients. My friend suffers from a vitamin deficiency and doctors have concluded that’s what caused her macular degeneration

Continental Colonel says:

July 2, 2012 at 6:49 pm

Melanie Goad I don’t give my cat fresh stuff all the time there’s a really amazing and affordable food in a refrigerator at wal-mart that basically just has chicken, ocean whitefish, a few veggies and vitamins. As a life-long cat fan I’ve learned a well balanced diet keeps cats healthy, and I’ve studied that not one brand has all the nutrients a cat needs. So it’s good to give them a variety. The bag costs $4 and feeds my cat for three days. So I spend about $10 at MOST on him a week for food. That may be expensive to some people who buy a $15 bag and it lasts ALL month ,but I’ve traded in my Starbucks Frappucinos and Mcdonald’s twice a week for my cat to have healthier food

Marlana Cortes says:

July 11, 2012 at 2:34 pm

ok funny how i have vetenarians telling me something different i think im gonna take their advice other that two people that have nothing but an opinion thanks! secondly i grew up around animals my whole life and neither of them went blind lost their hearing or were sad?? i had a cat that i took care of and she lived to be 21 ?? so wheres your theory now?? if your gonna give me the money ill do what ever you tell me too do, until then ill have my opinion like you’ll have yours, again its just a damn piture, just enjoy the beauty of the freakin picture!

Frank Childs says:

July 13, 2012 at 12:34 pm

No one is arguing that the picture is cute or not, just the validity of the caption, that the lioness does not eat meat. She has to, please read the following wiki article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat

Excerpt:
“Cats are obligate carnivores: their physiology has evolved to efficiently process meat, and they have difficulty digesting plant matter. In contrast to omnivores such as rats, which only require about 4% protein in their diet, about 20% of a cat’s diet must be protein. Cats are unusually dependent on a constant supply of the amino acid arginine, and a diet lacking arginine causes marked weight loss and can be rapidly fatal. Another unusual feature is that the cat also cannot produce the amino acid taurine, with taurine deficiency causing macular degeneration, where the cat’s retina slowly degenerates, causing irreversible blindness. Since cats tend to eat all of their prey, they obtain minerals by digesting animal bones, and a diet composed only of meat may cause calcium deficiency.”

Marlana Cortes says:

July 13, 2012 at 2:04 pm

notice the KEY word MAY CAUSE not it will, if you give your cat milk and cheese guess what its vitamins and calcium, if you give your cat raw meat or hell even cooked meat HELLO still vitamins!! and once again ITS JUST A COOL PICTURE!!! ugh, cant people just enjoy the beauty in things without having to shove opinions down others throats smh and your gonna trust wikipedia a site that regular people like you or i can alter?? really and this is how you spend you day looking up stuff to make a point that i just easily tarnished? thank you Frank have a great weekend..

Frank Childs says:

July 14, 2012 at 9:34 am

You completely miss the point. A) it does not say (regarding taurine deficiency) it “MAY CAUSE BLINDNESS”; it says it says it CAUSES macular degeneration, WHICH LEADS TO IRREVERSIBLE BLINDNESS. and B) of course cats can have milk and even plant based foods, but cats also MUST HAVE MEAT. MUST. NOT AN OPTION. CATS ARE NOT AND CANNOT BE VEGANS. THAT IS THE POINT!!!

still a cool picture though, just the caption is misleading.

June Vearling says:

April 18, 2012 at 3:49 pm

To cute for words.

Venus Bee says:

April 16, 2012 at 8:19 am

Fascinating, yet very beautiful.

Susan White Fisher says:

April 7, 2012 at 7:49 pm

Don’t mess with me I will send my friend after you!

Mike Volpe says:

April 7, 2012 at 2:34 am

Don’t mess with me!

Melanie Goad says:

June 12, 2012 at 7:04 pm

…I’ll send my personal body gaurd after your A$$!!!

Mike Volpe says:

June 14, 2012 at 4:04 am

Good one Melanie. Can you imagine having a friggin Lion as a ranch pet? I’m going to watch my ass next time I go to somebody’s ranch house. I hope you do too.

Myra Bowen says:

April 6, 2012 at 3:49 pm

This picture is in my Baby album my grandmother made me when I was thirteen this picture was printed the year I was born. Have always loved this picture!

Dora Avila says:

April 6, 2012 at 3:34 pm

very cute since they are distant cousins.

Melanie Goad says:

June 12, 2012 at 6:49 pm

Seriously. Because there had to be the split at some point in time…

Amaris Ayala says:

April 6, 2012 at 2:05 pm

Adorable!

Jose Melosevich Briceno says:

April 6, 2012 at 2:35 pm

dont understand,,lo esta cuidando o se esta preparando para comerselo??

Amaris Ayala says:

April 6, 2012 at 2:49 pm

El articulo dice que la leona es vegeteriana, so simplemente la esta cuidando.

Lisa Coto says:

April 6, 2012 at 1:49 pm

Males Lions will eat another male lions offspring just to keep the baby from growing up being competition for him. I have never heard of a story of a vegetarian lioness. I wonder if its true. If it is then we have something in common! I love animals and don’t eat them.

Jan Martin Thompson says:

April 9, 2012 at 11:19 am

This lioness is a captive. If she were free, her diet would be different.

Jan Daniel Bouhs says:

May 5, 2012 at 12:04 am

I have once seen a show about Buddhist monks who live together with tigers. The monks feed them with rice and the tigers, although living freely, always come back for rice and have never attacked any of the monks.

Continental Colonel says:

June 3, 2012 at 2:35 pm

milk and cereal? Are you for real? I bet it isn’t even raw milk. Let me tell you what, when I go to the supermarket I always have to wait behind a lioness that has a cart chock full of Basic 4, Chex Mix and gallons of milk. Fucking retards.

Curtis Scarbrough says:

June 11, 2012 at 2:34 pm

She’s a pet, not a captive. Big difference.

Loralee Renfro says:

June 14, 2012 at 7:19 pm

I agree with your comment Lisa!!!

Kathleen Karrer-Lewis says:

November 23, 2012 at 1:04 pm

Ok to express your opinion you have a right to it, but language and terminology lets us all know your are severely in need of social graces. Your 2 seconds of thought have left the room.

April Strauss says:

April 6, 2012 at 12:49 pm

That’s cute. I wouldn’t think a lioness would eat a kitten 1.) because cats aren’t cannibals. Males might kill kittens so that he can have the momma, but as far as I know, they don’t eat other and 2.) it’s female, hence not killing the kitten for sexual progress, I suppose might be the term.

Melanie Goad says:

June 12, 2012 at 6:49 pm

good point

Matthew Gagne Sr. says:

April 6, 2012 at 12:34 pm

That is sweet.