Forest Ranger, starting from Picking Up a Lynx Girl

Another issue is whether the disabled kitten, if birthed by this mother cat, carries any latent virus, and whether its sudden digestive problems are virus-related.

Thinking of this, a shiver ran down Chen Ying's spine, thankful that he hadn't rashly let it near the freshly delivered mother cat, otherwise… it would have risked the lives of five kittens!

You could say these kittens narrowly escaped death.

After methodically arranging things, Chen Ying leaned against the chair back, relaxing his whole body.

The upcoming tasks are quite challenging; relying solely on his team to complete the screening would be difficult, thus the issue of manpower must be resolved.

Fortunately, with the Dao family's assistance and his own status, after negotiating with two provincial universities, two teams were reorganized to aid in comprehensive screenings.

The screening does not require Chen Ying's leadership. The personnel were reshuffled and regrouped, leaving necessary observers at each camp, with the rest dispatched into the reserve.

After five days of antiviral treatment and immune modulation, the mother cat's vital signs stabilized, yet she remained lethargic, as if only the shell was alive and her soul had left for Meow Star with her kittens.

To stimulate the mother cat's vitality and to test whether she would accept the disabled kitten again, Chen Ying and two supporting veterinarians decided, after much deliberation, to take a risky move and present the kitten to the mother cat to see if she would react.

Many scenarios were envisioned, including being ignored, the cat expressing disdain, or a blatant rejection.

However, when the kitten was placed in a protective box and brought to the mother cat, both, big and small, seemed frozen.

The kitten's eyes had opened a slit. It was uncertain if it could see its mother, or sense her through the protective shield, yet the disabled kitten was motionless, facing the mother.

Inside the isolation cage, the mother cat in recovery opened her eyes, staring unblinkingly at the kitten in the box.

As neither moved, Chen Ying was uncertain what to do, standing by to observe their interaction.

Perhaps holding the same pose for too long became uncomfortable for the kitten, and it started to meow loudly.

At this time, it should ideally be fed milk and cradled to sleep by Yunyun.

But now, sensing a strange mother beast nearby without familiar scents for protection, the kitten was scared.

Chen Ying hadn't expected instant positive feedback; his aim was to ignite the mother cat's survival instincts, which seemed somewhat effective.

After Chen Ying removed the kitten, the mother cat continued staring intently at the door, a small face full of solemnity and confusion, wondering why she survived as the weakest, while her other babies had journeyed to Meow Star first.

Chen Ying was curious as well, but now wasn't the time to delve into it. Another plausible explanation suggested the disabled kitten had traded sound limbs for robust genetics.

Recently, another check confirmed the kitten had no virus. The digestive issue was merely from human-fed formula, unrelated to any virus.

The weakest can be the strongest!

The kitten's presence lifted the mother cat from her lifeless state, and she could force herself to eat the food provided.

As long as she could eat and drink, recovery should be swift.

After just three days, all tests indicated she was healed! A miracle, possibly stemming from a mother's greatness.

After comprehensive deliberation, Chen Ying and the team decided on a tentative encounter between the kitten and mother cat, with Leopard and Yunyun as observers and rescuers throughout.

Yunyun, particularly, despite not feeding the kitten, did everything else a mother could, sometimes even more diligently than for her own offspring.

Upon entering the cub room, the mother fishing cat hesitated at the door, sensing not only her child but another cat and a threatening beast.

Yet the beast didn't seem hostile; when she was brought back, her spirit was broken but she wasn't dead, and she remembered Leopard's scent.

Slowly approaching the specially made cat nest by the wall, she halted outside the protection barrier, watching the abandoned but fateful kitten.

Post intestinal treatment, the kitten no longer had diarrhea, growing plump despite lacking front paws, which didn't detract from its cuteness.

In fact, the condition resembled the human phocomelia syndrome, formally termed "congenital limb deficiency syndrome."

This rare disease in humans is usually medication-caused fetal malformation, but its animal occurrence is undetermined.

Famous police dog Baton had forelimb deformities too, yet its littermates were healthy, and both parents were police dogs with no genetic defects.

The kitten's forelimbs showed slight bud-like growths; as it grew, these would too, but not forming normal limbs.

After lingering outside the protection chamber, the mother fishing cat looked around, then let out a few meows.

Yunyun emerged from hidden corners, after some mutual gauging with the mother cat, slipped through the customized cat entry.

The mother cat, watching her lie beside the kitten, showed sharp eyes.

After a standoff of two minutes, the mother cat approached the entrance, prodding the door hesitantly, and after pacing back and forth, finally squeezed through.

Yunyun ignored her as she circled to settle two or three decimeters from the kitten, wanting to close the gap but hesitant.

After another ten-minute stalemate, the mother cat cautiously neared the kitten, sniffing before giving it a tentative lick.

Yunyun's paw twitched; the mother cat raised her head alertly, but remained by her offspring.

Noticing no aggression from Yunyun, the mother cat paced back, settling by the kitten to cuddle and lick it.

"Brother Chen, after so long without feeding, can this cat nurse the kitten?"

"There should be no problem," Chen Ying said, arms crossed before the monitor screen. "When Leopard brought her back, she lacked milk due to weakness. During treatment, she received enough nutrition, and her prolactin remained, causing her milk to swell these past two days."

For safety, they manually extracted her milk daily while closely monitoring medication metabolism. Only today, when drugs had fully cleared, did they allow the mother cat near the kitten, to see if she'd willingly nurse it.

Thus far, development seems positive; now it's to see if the kitten can feed on its own, given its habitual passive feeding.

Perhaps the mother cat's milk scent stirred the sleeping kitten, making it instinctively sniff despite closed eyes, reflexively opening and closing its small mouth, making hearts ache.

Despite looking around, it failed to find milk, prompting Yunyun to urge it when the mother cat nudged the kitten to its belly.

Luck was good, meeting its mouth just as it opened, filling it.

Despite differing from usual texture, the bewildered kitten opened its eyes to find the world's shifted!