This dog, cat and rat trio are a very unlikely group of friends

You certainly wouldn’t expect a dog, a cat and a rat to get along, but the following trio of animals not only get along, but they happen to be best friends. Sasha the dog, Jack the cat and Tweaks the rat can’t stand to be separated from each other, a fact that became very clear to the Oshkosh Area Humane Society when they were left at the shelter.

According to the humane society, their owner was downsizing and could no longer keep all three of the animals, so the owner left them with the animal shelter. Of course, the owner told the shelter just how close the animals were. “Their owner could no longer care for them but they let us know they were very bonded,” Jennifer Ollanketo of The Oshkosh Area Humane Society told Love Meow.

Yup. They’d been told the animals were extremely close, but they didn’t necessarily believe it until they had seen it with their own eyes. You see, when they tried to separate the animals, it did not go well. Apparently, when Jack was separated from the group, he became very unfriendly. But when the shelter brought Sasha in, his mood changed. “As soon as the dog came in, he was like a totally different cat. He just became more relaxed knowing that his buddy was there,” Cheryl Rosenthal, the communications and education coordinator at the shelter, told The Dodo.

Then the staff decided to bring Tweaks into the mix, too.  And when they did—they couldn’t believe what they saw! “We put the rat down, and right away the rat was running all over the dog, and going up and licking his face, and the dog was licking the rat. So it was like, ‘OK—I guess they really are friends,'” Rosenthal told The Dodo.

The trio then lovingly became known as “The Rat Pack.” How cute!

Once it was clear that these three really were the best of friends, the shelter knew they had to find a home together. And thankfully, the animals were placed with a loving family back in April. They found a home with a mother and a daughter who already owned a cat they’d adopted from the Oshkosh Area Humane Society.

“They have touched a lot of hearts other than just mine and I am grateful and feel very privileged to be able to be a part of this,” the new owner told The Dodo of the three furry friends.

“We’re all very excited that they all went home together,” Ollanketo told Love Meow back when the animals were adopted, and honestly, we couldn’t be happier that these three found a home together, either.

These certainly aren’t the only unlikely animal friends out there. The photo below is proof that dogs can also befriend a group of chicks:

Hurrah for cute friendships!