My first experience with life and death

So last night, I received a frantic call from my friend that I took Otter from. Her persian was in labor, she had a dead kitten, and another that was barely breathing. I rushed over, looked after the alive kitten and tried to get him to nurse. He was so lethargic but he was trying to eat. Mom was being a little difficult. We don’t think she realized he was still alive because he had been born not breathing. So my bf took him into the other room and warmed him up. We gave him karo on his gums and kept rubbing him lightly. I made an emergency formula with what I had and remembered. I substituted plain yogurt for one part vanilla yogurt and one part mayo. Added egg yolk, more karo, and a pedialyte recipe. He seemed to perk up, but he was becoming more and more lethargic. We let him sleep. He ended up pooping too. He fit in the palm of my hand.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/soy_mocha_latte/Animals/Photo0867.jpg

So a couple of hours after we got there, mama started to have contractions and started pushing out the sac. We timed it. She started at 12:10 and got it out at 12:17. The baby wasn’t moving. Mom didn’t clean him. We grabbed him, cut him free of the placenta, and started rubbing. Nothing. I checked him for obvious deformities. His nose was so flat, I don’t think his airway was open or could be open. He didn’t have a chance. So we set him aside and kept trying to coax mama to clean her alive baby. I got him to eat 2mL of the emergency formula. He kept getting better at swallowing it instead of just gurgling out the food. He got some down. Mama seemed to stop having contractions altogether. We felt her belly, and could tell there was something still in there. We didn’t know if it was a cyst that hindered her babies development, or another dead kitten. But our focus was the alive one for now. We kept rubbing and trying to get him to nurse. But it was late, so we had to go home. She was going to get up every few hours to feed him. We didn’t have high hopes that he would survive the night. But I thought he had a chance. Mama was starting to clean him, and he was becoming stronger by the minute. When I woke up this morning, I found this on my phone:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/soy_mocha_latte/Animals/IMG950635.jpg

He was nursing! As far as I know he is still alive. I am so glad he survived the night. We are going to take it day by day, and try our hardest to get him to nurse on mom. I offered to bottle feed him if he makes it long enough and he doesn’t keep nursing. I hope this cutie makes it!