A Dragon That My Cat Brought Home

No belly button, is that possible?

“It looks like he’s only been born a day or two ago, then it’s supposed to have an umbilical cord attached to it. But there isn’t even a mark.”

I took the kitten from my sister’s hand and looked at the belly. The stomach, which had just eaten colostrum and became chubby, was only smooth and clean with a pale pink color. This was really weird.

All mammals have a belly button. The only exceptions are the echidna and the platypus, which live in Australia. A platypus is a fascinating animal with a body resembling an otter, a duck-like beak, a beaver-like tail, and webbed feet.

Although I had never seen a platypus baby in person, it was certain that the baby that Baek-Ho had brought was not a platypus. Although it was still too small to reveal its shape, in the eyes of the veterinarian and veterinarian’s brother, the baby was closest to that of a newborn kitten. Even if it is a congenital anomaly, it could be missing a limb or a body part, but it can’t be born without a belly button. Could it be you were born from an egg? There’s no way.

My sister, who had been wandering in the chaos for a long time just like me, finally came to her senses and sighed.

“I want to take him to the hospital and do some tests, but he’s still too young, so let’s just leave it alone. Saving it is the number one priority. The inspection can be done after it gets a little bigger.”

My sister was also bold to accept a cat without a belly button so casually; if it were another veterinarian, they would have sent him to the laboratory or called the National Forensic Service.

I was a little anxious, but I just decided to take care of it like a normal kitten. Platypus also feeds on its mother’s milk after hatching from the egg. Seeing that this little thing also eats colostrum, it seemed like it could be raised with formula milk.

Since my older sister had to go to the hospital and do chores there, I decided to take over the role of feeding. After all, I spent most of my time sitting at home because I was writing novels.

I have no experience with breastfeeding because Baek-Ho was brought in at around 2 months old when it was already weaning. After teaching me how to artificially feed it and induce a bowel movement, my sister left the house.

“You have to feed every two or three hours. After about 4 weeks, it will sleep a little longer, so it will be challenging until then. If you find it difficult to take care of yourself, tell me. I’ll take him to the hospital during the day and drop him off when I finish work.”

“No. For now, I’ll try to manage on my own. Thank you, noona; see you. I will be waiting for my brother-in-law and children.”

I put a cardboard box next to the bed, put a blanket in it, and put the little baby in it. My older sister had asked me to keep it warm, so I wrapped a plastic bottle of hot water and a hot towel and put them together.

I put a mesh lid on the cardboard box in case Baek-Ho might try to touch it, but Baek-Ho quietly watched from the side and did not touch the box with the baby. Our Baek-Ho was such a wonderful cat. Even though we lived together for 7 years, I didn’t realize it. As a reward, I gave him a packet of chicken breast.

The baby woke up almost two and a half to three hours apart and cried like an alarm. The cry sounded like that of a chick. He had a rather large head than his tiny body and slender legs. It was amazing to see that it had little fingertips on its legs, which were as small as peas.

At first, I was fed it with a syringe, but after two or three days, it could suck the bottle well. It was impressive to see the baby, who couldn’t even open its eyes, open its mouth like a swallow’s baby and cry while biting the bottle and sucking on it from side to side. After feeding, I pat its buttocks with a warm wet tissue to help urinate. It goes to sleep immediately after eating and continues sleeping until the next feeding time.

It was my first experience raising a kitten through artificial feeding, so everything was strange and proud. However, after a few days, the baby’s stomach was about to burst, and his weight had risen, but I couldn’t sleep and felt like I was going to die. The novel I was writing ended up going on hiatus.

This was not easy. It’s something to start on a whim.

Besides, there is even a watchman. If I ignore the baby’s cry and go to sleep, Baek-Ho wakes me up. I can’t get up without licking my face with its sharp tongue, telling me to give the baby food.

‘It’s not even my baby, but I take good care of it. Don’t you even think that your older brother’s suffering? Undo when I said you were special. Give me back my chicken breast snack I gave you!’

I grumbled and prepared formula milk, and Baek-Ho rubbed his head against my legs as if to appease me.

In the midst of such a tough battle, the little one grew up well. After about ten days, its soft body was covered with bluish-gray fur over a chubby body, and it became even cuter. I, too, got used to touching the mouse-sized baby, so my hands didn’t tremble like they did the first time.

“Myung-Hoon, are you going to keep calling it a little baby? Maybe I should give you a name?”

“Well, I don’t know the gender yet, and I don’t have a name that I want to be just like this……. Maybe I will need to wait a while before I find out its gender?”

“It should be a month.”

“If it’s a male, it’s Hyukgeose. If it’s a female, Aryonng?”
TN: Historical Korean figures, these two are husband and wife.

Hey!”

“It’s a joke; we’ll match your name to Baek-Ho. If it’s a girl, I’ll call her Zhujak. If it’s a boy, I’ll call him Blue Dragon.”
TN: Zhujak is like a phoenix.

I didn’t know it then. But those words become seeds.

The baby finally woke up after 2 weeks. The way it looked at me with its tiny seed-like eyes open was so cute that I felt like I was being compensated for all the hard work I had to do while not sleeping, formula feeding, and collecting poop and urine. I weighed it on a kitchen scale and found that it had doubled its weight. Baek-Ho also licked to show it did well.

I almost forgot that the baby didn’t have a belly button as it was steadily following the growth process of a normal kitten. It was because he seemed to grow up to be an average cat.

About three weeks after the baby came, my older sister, who had come to see it tilted her head.

“Myung-Hoon, what is this on his head? Has it been bitten by an insect?”

“Uh? Let’s see, oh, you’re right. It wouldn’t have hit anything, so why is it like this? Pimples?”

There was no chance a baby crawling on a soft blanket inside the box would hit something, and there were no mosquitos. When I touched it with my fingers, two were on each side. What is this?