"Milking a queen is typically difficult, and the total volume collected is often small. The following techniques were utilized to allow the collection of large sample volumes. A queen was separated from her kittens for a period that mimicked the natural nursing interval observed for her kittens' age to ensure that her glands were full at the time of collection, and the milk collected was not merely residual. These separation periods were 30 min for litters 2-weeks-old and younger, and 45–60 min for older litters. Frequent massaging of the mammary glands during milking helped to sustain ejection without administering additional oxytocin. A queen objecting to the sitting position often would quickly settle down, 'recline' with all legs stretched out, and knead once her glands were massaged, simulating the natural kneading by the kittens. The process of milking a single queen required approximately 45–60 min, volumes collected amounted to 12–15 ml. However, between 20 and 25 ml were collected from several queens.K. L. Jacobsen, E. J. DePeters, Q. R. Rogers, S. J. Taylor (2004)
Each queen was subcutaneously injected at the scruff of the neck with 5 units of oxytocin (0.25 cc of a solution containing 20 units of oxytocin per ml) using a 2.54 cm, 25-gauge needle was used for all injections. Milk collection started 10 min following the oxytocin injection. Milk was collected by manual expression into preweighed 5-ml plastic tubes. Volumes of 1 ml were collected at a time, with the front teats being collected separately from the back teats. All functional teats were milked, with an attempt to maintain a constant amount from each teat for a given 1-ml volume. "
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I don't think I will, either. I might do it for twenty bucks. While the internet has certainly made me jaded it has also made me wary.
posted by loquacious at 7:10 PM on March 2, 2007