When the shelter she volunteers for entrusted her with five one-day-old kittens, she knew they were too young to be on their own.
All the babies were bottle-fed every two hours, round the clock.
Round-the-clock care
Ashley even had to tube-feed them and regularly administer subcutaneous fluids. In January, she shared the kittens' daily life in a video that went viral on TikTok: "These kittens were taken from their mother at birth. Five of them came to me when they were one day old."
Sadly, three of the kittens died from congenital digestive problems. To increase their chances of survival, Ashley decided to entrust the two remaining kittens to her cat Poppy to familiarise them with physical contact. In the images below, you can see the two kittens snuggled up against Poppy. The cat purrs very loudly: all the little felines are soothed by the gentle rhythm of the purring.
True comfort
Ashley wrote in the video caption: "I can't believe how therapeutic this has been for Poppy and the kittens. I believe Poppy has the power to heal these babies. She turns to mush as soon as the kittens are given to her. Poppy is truly made for this!"
Unfortunately, about a week after the video was posted, a fourth kitten succumbed to illness. Fortunately, one survived: the only female in the litter, whom Ashley eventually adopted and named Red. The loss of the four kittens plunged the family into deep sadness, but they're grateful that Red is healthy. One user commented: "Poppy is doing a fantastic job. They all came to you for a reason." We couldn't agree more!
