CUTE ALERT: Puppy and cheetah cub become best of friends at San Diego zoo

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- To help a 6-week-old cheetah cub, zookeepers in San Diego turned to an unlikely companion.

Meet Ruuxa and her puppy pal, Raina, a 7-week-old Rhodesian Ridgeback. The pair quickly became best friends and will be raised together as life-long companions.

The cheetah was the only cub born in his litter, so his mother rejected him. This is typical because a single cub has a low survival rate in the wild.

"We are starting it a lot younger because the cheetah was by himself and did not have any siblings," said Susie Ekard, spokesperson for the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. "We wanted him to have a companion immediately, because he needed those social skills and that interaction even as he is nursing and growing up."

By the way, the zoo paired the cheetah with a dog because the dog's body language communicates with the cheetah, telling the animal it has nothing to fear in its surroundings.