He's a big softy at heart! Yankee the giant St Bernard lets stray cats snuggle up to him every night



They were originally bred to rescue mountaineers trapped in snow storms.

So it is perhaps no surprise this giant St Bernard also wants to help the needy, albeit of a rather different kind.

For nine-year-old Yankee has been letting dozens of stray cats cuddle up to him when he goes to sleep every night to shelter them from the cold.



A doggone good deed: Yankee the St Bernard lets stray cats snuggle up to him for warmth at his home in Iowa Cute: Owner Keegan Vansoelen frequently witnesses the cats sleeping on Yankee to shelter from the cold

Owner Keegan Vansoelen, 24, said the cats started coming over to the home from a barn about a year ago and have never looked back.



Mr Vansoelen said: 'We discovered the cats sleeping on him one morning about a year ago.

'It looks like a big ball of fur. Many of the cats are the same colour as Yankee's coat, so sometimes they are hard to see on him.'

The friendly pooch has taken to cuddling up to the cats every night to keep them warm in a touching protective gesture.

Mr Vansoelen said: 'It happens quite a bit during the winter, as it can get pretty cold here.

'Even during the summer they lay with him. I think they do it just to be close to another creature.'

Nestling down: Mr Vansoelen said the stray cats wander over from a nearby barn

Mr Vansoelen, who lives on a farm in Iowa, USA, said the stray cats wander over from a nearby barn.

'The cats are all barn cats. Sometimes there will only be three or four, other times there are a lot more. I think I counted 16 in one picture,' he said.

Mr Vansoelen, a construction worker, said the friendly moggies will nestle up to Yankee for as long as he will let them.

'They'll sleep like that as long as he lays still and doesn't get up,' he said.

'Most of the time he just lets them lay and sleep on him. Every once in a while though he'll get irritated with it and get up.'

St Bernards were originally trained in the early 18th Century to help monks living in the dangerous St Bernard Pass between Italy and Switzerland on their rescue missions after blizzards.