Found after the rain
Five newborn kittens were found drenched by the side of the road.
One evening in mid-March, I was cooking at home. Suddenly, a friend sent me a photo. A few abandoned kittens were lying next to a flowerbed. They were small, quiet, and far too young to be without their mother.
They looked to be only two or three days old. Someone had put them in a plastic bag and left them by the side of the road. The rain had just passed, the air was cold, and their tiny bodies were completely wet. They were trembling so hard that looking away felt impossible.
The first save
No experience, no kitten milk, just the urgent need to keep them warm.
I immediately went downstairs and asked a local shop for a polystyrene box. I grabbed old clothes and hurried outside. There was no plan at that moment. There was only the feeling that they had to get out of the cold as quickly as possible.
We had no experience caring for newborn kittens and no kitten milk on hand. My boyfriend had only been able to buy regular cow's milk. We placed the five kittens one by one in the box and wrapped them in old clothes, hoping they could retain some warmth. They had already lost too much body heat. Due to our lack of experience, two of them didn't make it through the night.
That grief lingered. My boyfriend and I buried them under a large tree by the river. During Qingming, we went back and placed two small daisies to commemorate them.
That first night wasn't about knowing exactly what was right. That night was about trying not to lose them to the cold.
Bottle feeding at home
The three survivors came home with us. Then began the slow work of keeping them alive.
We took the three remaining kittens home. Day after day, they slowly began to grow. We switched to goat's milk replacer, kept them warm with an electric blanket and hot water bottles, and learned how fragile newborn kitten care can be.
I hadn't planned on keeping them myself at first. That same evening, I posted calls for adoption and help on Xiaohongshu, hoping to find a nursing mother cat who could take better care of orphaned kittens than we could. After two or three days of feeding them, keeping them warm, and watching their sleeping faces, we were already attached to them.
Small, fragile, and yet still here.
Bottle-feeding became the rhythm of the day.
Slowly, they learned that home could be safe.
A sudden emergency
A month later, a change in milk powder put them at risk again.
About a month later, things went wrong again. Their tummies couldn't handle a change in milk powder. Their condition deteriorated quickly, so quickly that it felt for a moment as if we were seeing them slip away again.
We rushed them to the vet for emergency care: X-rays, injections, and oxygen. After returning home, we bought an oxygen concentrator and kept it close by, just in case their breathing changed again.
Day and night care
Nourish, keep warm, track every breath — and slowly bring them back.
During that period, we watched over them day and night. We gave them small amounts of milk repeatedly, helped stimulate defecation at fixed times, and continued to monitor their breathing. Every small movement felt important. Every peaceful nap felt like a small sign of hope.
Eventually, the three kittens came back from the brink. Not all at once, and not dramatically, but slowly. Through milk, warmth, oxygen, and a small, stubborn desire to keep living.
Those days changed something between us. After all we had been through together, they were no longer just kittens we had found. They were small lives for which we had become responsible. And they were small lives we had already started to love.
Feed
Small amounts, patient perseverance, and a lot of care.
Heat
Electric blankets, hot water bottles, and constantly checking.
Care for newborn kittens
Fixed care moments, careful cleaning, and continuously observing.
Breathing
Keep following every small breath.
