NOVEL NEXT Chapter 565: Cat Mother: Look at My Kitten and Say It
The logistics delivered the animal infant formula and nursery box swiftly; by that night, the kitten was able to sleep securely in the box.
Yunyun heard the news from somewhere and came over to take a look in the evening.
It didn't get close to lick the kitten, but kept sniffing around it incessantly, as if trying to determine which family the child belonged to.
Chen Ying put down his phone, pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling a bit worried.
He had just contacted people in the surrounding area, but no one could guarantee they could raise the little creature. Even normal kittens are hard to raise once abandoned at birth, let alone one with congenital disabilities; no one knew if it had any other issues.
After communicating with several veterinarian teams, Chen Ying felt it might be better for him to raise it himself, as he was familiar with felines and was fairly skilled. Currently, the biggest challenge was the absence of appropriate medical equipment to examine the kitten's health.
To the naked eye, the kitten seemed to have no issues other than front limb disabilities, but it was abandoned at birth and soaked in the water for an unknown amount of time.
When Leopard brought it over, the little creature's body was cold and slightly stiff; without Chen Ying's rich experience, it would likely have been discarded as a deceased infant.
"Don't worry, I've asked my sister-in-law to send over equipment, temporarily set up in the village, along with a professional nursery caregiver; you just need to visit every day."
Dao Meihua's financial power comes into play once more.
Although Chen Ying wasn't without money, sometimes money alone couldn't solve problems. The Dao family had been cultivating animal protection and related industries within the province for decades, achieving results with a single statement where others couldn't.
Under circumstances like these, coordinating, installing equipment, and staffing, what others found tricky, the Dao family handled easily.
Every two hours, the kitten needed a dose of formula; it lacked the ability to suction on its own, relying entirely on humans carefully squeezing it into its mouth for passive swallowing.
Even Chen Ying didn't know if it could get through this stage, let alone think it was difficult for others.
The next day, the nursery caregiver sent by the Dao family arrived at the village with the nursery box and settled in at Yan Han's house.
Yan Han's brother and sister-in-law were also helping care for the little creature, heating water at night, watching over it, cleaning, assisting the kitten with voiding, tacitly learning seriously alongside the nursery caregiver.
Even Yunyun moved its sleeping spot to the corridor outside the nursery, squatting silently at the door each morning and evening, watching the two-legged beasts caring for the little thing.
Yunyun didn't understand; the little thing couldn't live in the wild later on, nor even catch fish. Would it rely on humans for life?
Although confused, it, during a certain afternoon, finally jumped onto the table, approaching the nursery box.
In five days, the kitten appeared slightly larger than when it was first rescued, yet remained skin and bones; without front limbs, it couldn't even flip over or crawl, and its calls were extremely weak.
Chen Ying conducted an examination, finding no additional issues for now, but possibly due to the lack of breast milk, the little creature's digestion wasn't very good, and development was somewhat slow.
After instructing the nursery caregiver to adjust the formula ratio, upon turning around, he saw Yunyun's face pressed against the nursery box, staring unblinking at the kitten.
Actually, if it weren't for Yunyun's offspring being too large, it would have been fine to ask Yunyun to be a nanny.
Yunyun's young ones had already weaned and begun learning to fish, even wanting to help with feeding would be beyond its capacity.
But though unable to nurse the kitten, licking its fur and helping stimulate voiding was doable.
Seeing Yunyun desiring to help, Chen Ying cautiously took the kitten out of the nursery box, placing it in a nest formed of thick towels on the table.
Yunyun sniffed it and began gently licking, even turning the kitten over to lick its belly and bottom.
Perhaps never experiencing such treatment before, the kitten seemed startled, pushing its head against forcefully, opening its small mouth forcefully yet making no sound.
Yunyun gently held the kitten, comforting it until it calmed down.
Chen Ying and the nursery caregiver watched nearby, only quietly leaving the room after the kitten fell asleep.
"It appears the presence of a mother cat is crucial to a kitten; too bad there isn't a suitable nursing Cat Mother to swap with canned food for caring assistance."
Hearing the nursery caregiver's words, Chen Ying stroked his chin.
It wasn't impossible, depending on the effectiveness of the team there, whether they could locate the birthing site of the Fishing Cat.
Chen Ying glanced at the kitten, deciding to personally go and have a look.
The team there, upon learning Chen Ying and others had picked up an abandoned disabled Fishing Cat, ramped up efforts to locate the cat, but the expecting Fishing Cat remained very vigilant; to date, they hadn't seen a single cat hair.
Initially, they discovered a place seemingly prepared by the Fishing Cat for birthing; however, after setting up cameras, they hadn't seen any cats coming or going for several days.
The familiar Leopard had also been missing for several days, but occasionally the cameras managed to capture images of it moving around the wetlands; it seemed to be searching for something, always sniffing the ground when entering the frame.
Chen Ying speculated it might be attempting to locate the Fishing Cat that abandoned the kitten, but hadn't found anything in several days; the cameras set up near the abandonment site hadn't captured images of the Fishing Cat or other felines, the Mother Cat probably moved residences with her other children.