Joy cometh in the morning.

[serinde]

After previous meltdown, nedlnthred mixed up a batch of condensed milk & egg yolk, a combination she's had success with before, and put it in the other bottles that Rollo et al. had sort of chewed the tops of the nipples off. This seemed like it might be too big for them to suckle on, but for some reason, it started to work; they did a kind of half-suckle, half-drink Thing which started getting warm food into kitten tummies.

And then! Piewacket, who had been sitting in the hallway watching with mild interest our strange proceedings, came over and started washing the kitten Beth was feeding. We put the kitten to her breast, and lo! she accepted it! And we added the rest, one by one, and she took them all!

Result:



I'm not sure but that we might still have some attrition--there is one squeaker who is always on the outside of the pile, and is noticeably more sluggish than the rest. And I'm still really worried about Mage, and I still rack my brains about who can take the office cats, and I have no clue how we're going to home these kittens; but we won this round.

Comments

[dagbrown.livejournal.com]

And I was all ready to post a PLEASE STOP POSTING STORIES ABOUT BABY ANIMALS DYING protest article.

I am very glad that Piewacket decided that her kittens were worth takin care of after all.

The last time my mom went looking for a new kitten to replace one of the endless series of cats she's had, I went with her, and of course I ended up bonding with the runt of the litter. Now said runt is a strong, healthy and enthusiastic tomcat, ruling the roost. And it's all my fault!

[briony530.livejournal.com]

Yay, mommy just needed a break!

[nancaurelia.livejournal.com]

Well done! What a relief.

[otherwise-nyc.livejournal.com]

I'm so so glad! I was fretting! The thought of all those kittens....

Francis and I will give serious thought to the kittens as the time comes. I just don't think we're ready yet, though. *sigh* Hard to think about.

[nancaurelia.livejournal.com]

Sounds as if you have it all under control, but if you have further problems, I got some detailed information from H.S. Larry's lovely wife Millie who sucessfully raised 2 entire litters of abandoned kittens years ago. They had good results. Their problem is that they couldn't stand to part with any of the kittens and kept them all, some of whom are now almost 20 yrs old.

She also mentioned that if they're less than 4 weeks old they might need to be stimulated to... eliminate. Also, you can give them a hot water bottle wrapped in a towel to sleep with, because they will need to cuddle with something warm. Maybe you ladies knew that, but just sayin.

[arkham1010.livejournal.com]

Now, will she feed them on the next go?

[missionista.livejournal.com]

The buffet is open.