Tough times call for heartwarming animal videos. And that explains why a video of a Golden Retriever and it’s pal – a cat that just had kittens – has earned nearly one million views in the less than two weeks that it’s been online.

There’s not much plot to the two-minute video and we aren’t even given much context about the creatures, but who needs it?

It all begins with the sweet dog looking down over mama cat and her babies. He tries to stick in a paw – presumably to stroke the cat – but thinks better of it, taking up watch duty instead to keep them safe.

If you don’t like emotional music designed to make you teary-eyed, turn it down here.

The next scene shows the pup laying down with mama cat nearby, but all of the kittens are now curled up near the dog’s belly.

Our mama cat looks up a few times to survey the situation but easily goes back to resting knowing that all of the kittens are accounted for and that the friendly dog is helping out by providing some much-needed warmth.

It’s probably nice to get a short break from the squirming kittens at your belly!

We love these two friends!

For its part, the Golden Retriever is taking its self-imposed job as protector of the litter very seriously. It appears to be trying not to move much so that everyone stays in place with minimal drama (or waking).

The dog even calmly stays still as a human fetches the kittens for some scheduled playtime.

The next thing we see are two rambunctious babies learning how to have some fun – and boy are they tiny.

And feisty!

At some point, mama kitten takes a real break and the little ones are left with the napping Golden Retriever.

They’re a little squirmy but largely staying in place.

They can’t get away very quickly yet anyway on those tiny little legs.

By the looks of it, they appear to be about a week old – at least by the time they’re shown playing with one another – since their eyes appear to be open. But there also seem to be parts of the video where they appear younger.

It’s pretty clear the two adult animals are good friends by the way they snuggle with one another.

As one commenter noted it’s great to see cats and dogs on the same side!

But by far the sweetest moment in the video comes when mama cat decides to thank the Golden Retriever by giving him a kitty massage!

She gently kneads her paws into his or her back side while the pup looks like it’s been lulled off to dreamland.

Who knew cats gave massages? (At least the gentle kind – we’ve certainly had some claws kneaded into us.)

There is literally a montage at the end of them cuddling some more and the dog being very cute on its own as well.

It’s completely gratuitous and exactly what we need right now to keep our brains from melting straight out of our heads.

Be sure to scroll down below for an adorable pick-me-up.

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Source: Viral Paws via YouTube, Alley Cat Allies