Chapter 685: Stew
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Zhang Zian and Lu Yiyun both had their eyes fixed on the bucket Snowy held.
“You got a Crucian Carp? A fresh one?” Zian asked, doubtful.
Snowy nodded proudly. “It’s very fresh, straight from the lake!”
Zhang Zian took the bucket from her hands and lifting the lid to see a big, fat fish.
“Impressive! You’ve helped me a lot, I was really worried.” Zhang Zian closed the lid to prevent the fish from jumping out. “Snowy, do you even know how to fish?”
“Not at all, I don’t have the patience. My uncle actually caught it, but I took it from him.” Snowy waved her hands as she clarified, “He’s still fishing if you need more, I can bring them over for you.”
Zhang Zian pondered for a moment. “The food market isn’t open, so I might have to trouble you for more.”
“It’s alright, being able to help makes me happy.” Snowy smiled. “You don’t have to be so polite with me, you can go ahead and make the stew for the kittens.”
Zhang Zian told Lu Yiyun to accompany Snowy as he took the fish up to the second floor and started boiling the water.
Since there were no customers, Lu Yiyun brought Snowy over to look at the kittens.
“Aw, they’re so cute!” Snowy cried after she saw the kittens sleeping beside their mothers.
The delivery rooms of the two mothers were next to each other. The more she looked at the kittens, the cuter they were.
Even after drinking the fish stew, the mothers wouldn’t produce milk immediately. Lu Yiyun did what Zhang Zian said to do, she boiled water and mixed it with goat milk powder, then added some children’s multivitamins to the mixture before letting it cool. Once it reached 40 degrees, Lu Yiyun took a dropper and sucked up some milk, then started to feed the kittens one by one.
“Can I try?” Snowy asked.
“Sure.” Lu Yiyun finished feeding the kitten she was holding and handed the dropper to Snowy.
Snowy hugged a small kitten. “Hi, cutie. I’m going to feed you!”
The mother stood from her nesting area and watched Snowy since it wasn’t familiar with her.
The kittens that hadn’t opened their eyes felt their mother leave, so they started to cry.
The mother was slightly relieved when it saw that Snowy didn’t have any intention to harm her child, so it went back to her kittens.
Lu Yiyun corrected Snowy’s stance. “Snowy, you’ve never fed a kitten before, right? They have to be on their belly. Use your hands to support its belly and slightly raise its head up or they’ll choke.”
Snowy did as she was told.
“Remember, only a drop of milk on their tongue at a time,” Lu Yiyun reminded her.
This was just like fishing, it tests your patience. Feeding 11 kittens little by little? An impatient person would get frustrated immediately.
Time slowly ticked away. Although Snowy had no patience for fishing, she was surprisingly very focused on feeding the kittens. She wasn’t in the least bit frustrated or annoyed. She even asked, “I understand feeding the kittens milk with children’s multivitamins, it’s very nutritious. Why do you need Crucian Carp stew to stimulate the mother’s milk?”
“It’s healthier and better for the kittens to drink their mother’s milk. Kittens that depend on milk powders have a higher mortality rate, and they grow up to be thin and small.
Zhang Zian put on a kitchen mitt and carried over a warm pot of the stew. The stew also had goat milk powder, so it was a milky-white color.
The two mothers had become used to eating canned food, but the stew would taste better. They came out of their nesting area and lowered their heads to sip the stew.
“The kittens are still pretty young, so they need to be fed once every three hours. That’s too many kittens for one person to feed everyday,” Zhang Zian continued.
Snowy was about to put her kitten down when Zhang Zian pointed at the tissues and said, “Wipe its mouth, then gently massage its side.”
Snowy did what Zhang Zian said and started to stroke the kitten. A few moments later, the kitten opened its mouth and burped.
“After you feed them, you have to burp it or they’ll have gas,” Zhang Zian explained.
The two mothers finished the stew. One of them ran towards the litter box in the corner of the room to relieve itself before it went back to the nesting area.
With Snowy there to feed the kittens, Lu Yiyun had nothing to do, so she left to clean the litter box.
Not long later, Lu Yiyun ran back in a panic holding the litter box.
“Zhang Zian, not good!”
“What happened?” Zhang Zian asked.
“The cat has diarrhea!” Lu Yiyun anxiously pointed at the poop in the litter box for Zhang Zian to see.
Zhang Zian looked at it and tried to calm her down. “There’s no need to panic. That’s not diarrhea, it’s just a soft poop. It happens frequently to mothers when they’re still nursing their kittens, take a closer look.”
He pointed at one of the mothers.
The mother licked its kitten’s fur from head to tail, even the kitten’s butt area.
As a result of the kitten being stimulated, pee and poop slipped out.
Without hesitation, the mother ate the pee and poop before she moved on to the next kitten and repeated the process.
“I…thought only dogs…eat poop. “Snowy was so shocked she started stuttering.
A thought appeared in her head, What if Snowball ate its own poop and then came to lick me? That would be disgusting.
It was Lu Yiyun’s first time witnessing this and she had the same thought as Snowy, but with her own cat, Jasmine.
“This is a special situation.” Zhang Zian laughed. “When kittens are newly born, they aren’t able to relieve themselves on their own. They require their mother’s stimulation to do so, or else they’d die of constipation. After their mother eats their waste, it’ll have soft poop. This only happens when the kittens are still young, so don’t worry.”
Both Snowy and Lu Yiyun let out a sigh of relief.