Kitten Nuggets

Kitten Nuggets Kitten Nuggets is a 501c3 nonprofit kitten rescue that focuses on medically complex neonates.

05/24/2026

I haven’t shared an Ottilie update in a minute! I keep hoping to have more good news to share, but this little lady is making me work! 😩 
 
The bit of good news is that she’s growing! She’s 568g (up from 256g on intake)! She’s 15 weeks old so she’s still uber tiny for her age, but I’ll take any progress I can get! 
 
The bad news is that she’s infinitely more comfortable in an oxygen cage and when I try to wean her off, her breathing becomes incredibly labored and she cries. 😭 This makes it exceptionally difficult to bring her to the vet for xrays, but we are planning to do this. We just need to do it safely! 
 
Additionally, now that she’s slowly turning into a real cat, she’s working on outgrowing her oxygen cage. Unfortunately, Franklin demolished his large cage (twice 🙈 I bought him a large cage twice!) because he grew into a big wild man 🙃😂 so I’d like to fundraise for two new oxygen cages! I have several concentrators (the expensive but important machine that concentrates oxygen from room air), but I don’t have larger oxygen cages. 
 
If you’re able to help me give this sweet little girl more space as she grows, we’d appreciate that so so much! 🫶🏻🩷

04/24/2026

Little Ottilie is doing pretty ok. We’ve had some good days and we’ve had some less good days. We’ve needed a few treatments in the oxygen cage. I want to get her in for a chest xray but I’d like her to be a little sturdier before we go on an adventure to the vet (away from her oxygen cage).

If you look at the dark patch on her chest in the first clip, this is where her sternum caves inward (pectus excavatum) and what’s causing her to have labored breathing at times. Surgery for PE either goes really well and they go on to live a normal life or they don’t survive it so I was hoping she wouldn’t need surgery, but the need for oxygen therapy at times makes me think she may need surgery.

She’s slowly gaining weight - slower than I’d like - but when your chest is compressed, you can’t tolerate more compression (in the form of a big bloated belly from eating), so sometimes she eats really well and other times, not so well. 🙃

For now, we’re taking it day by day with the goal of getting her a bit stronger so if she needs surgery, she has a better chance of surviving! Send us all the positive vibes!! If you’d like to donate towards Ottilie’s care, the link to our website with safe donation options is in our bio (www.kittennuggets.org/donate)! Thanks friends! 🫶🏻

04/16/2026

Meet OTTILIE! 🩶

This little lady was surrendered because she has a flat chest. She also has pectus excavatum. Flat chest and pectus excavatum are two distinct chest wall deformities. Sometimes they occur independently and sometimes they occur together.

A flat chest is felt in the ribs - they usually flatten out across the chest. Pectus excavatum is felt over the sternum, as it protrudes inward towards the heart. Flat chested kiddos can be splinted with a corset. PE kiddos need surgery if it’s severe enough. Little guys who have both can be a bit tricker to determine which treatment is ideal. Generally if the PE is mild and the flat chest is more pronounced, we can splint. If the PE is more severe, surgery is needed.

Miss Ottilie is also super, super tiny! At 9 weeks old, she was 256g on intake 5 days ago! That’s the average weight of a 2.5 week old kitten! Sometimes kittens with chest wall deformities are small, but this lady is REALLY small, so I’m closely monitoring her for signs of anything else that may contribute to her small size. She’s a very enthusiastic eater and she’s gained weight since intake (up to 321g today!) so hopefully that trend continues! 🤞🏻

If you’d like to donate towards Ottilie’s care, we’d appreciate that so much (www.kittennuggets.org/donate for donation links)! Thank you, friends! 🫶🏻🩷

03/03/2026

Wilson and Mavis are at the vet today for vaccines, microchip, spay/neuter, BOAS if needed (I think they’re ok but my vet will get a good look while they’re under and do it if they need), and a urinalysis for Wilson who has decided, after months of bulletproof potty training and no accidents in his crate, that his crate is now the place to go and he doesn’t mind sleeping in his urine/feces. 🥴

Their estimate for today is between $500-800/pup 😩 I tried to have them seen at the low cost clinic but I kept getting pushback over their clefts. I wasn’t actually able to speak with any of the vets, but the receptionist wouldn’t schedule us and eventually they stopped returning my calls.

We would be forever grateful for your help getting these tiny demons vetted! It’s really hard to raise money for the routine things, but routine vetting, food, litter, enrichment, supplies, etc are all super important! I know it’s not as sexy as an urgent surgical medical case, but equally as important and necessary!

Thank you, friends!! 🫶🏻🩷 Me and all these tiny monsters truly appreciate your support!!

02/21/2026

Meet MELVIN! 🤍

Some of you have met Melvin in my stories. He was surrendered at 2 days old because he has a cleft palate and needed to be tube fed. I also suspect (we can’t know definitively without imagining - either an ultrasound through an open fontanelle or, preferably, an MRI) that he has hydrocephalus.

The symptoms we see with hydrocephalus fall into two general categories: (1) symptoms that are a result of underdevelopment of the brain due to dilation of the ventricles during development and (2) symptoms resulting from increased ICP, the latter of which are concerning and often require a shunt to drain the CSF as it should normally. Melvin hasn’t shown symptoms of increased ICP.

The former set of symptoms won’t change with a shunt (and a shunt is really only indicated for recurring episodes of increased ICP, as that typically means his ventricular system is completely obstructed and requires the shunt to regularly drain the fluid). The brain won’t magically develop where it failed to. Sometimes these symptoms are pretty benign and the kiddo can still do all the normal things and live a full, happy life. Other times, this inability to be independent prompts quality of life decisions. Is this animal thriving or are they simply surviving?

Currently, Melvin is 12 weeks old and still requiring tube feeds, which makes him very delayed. He’s super eager to eat via tube (meaning he’s not refusing to eat because he feels bad). He willingly and excitedly swallows his tube (which isn’t typical of an otherwise healthy cleftie - usually they’ll fight the tube), but he won’t reliably eat solids on his own. Sometimes he’ll eat a small amount (which is exceptionally small considering his size of only 329g), but often not enough to sustain himself.

I’m trying various foods, but I am limited by his cleft palate. He needs to eat the right texture for his cleft. He can’t have loose, watery food. I’m hopeful that Mr. Melvin is just very delayed and in time will learn. 🤞🏻 Send us all the positive vibes that his 3 brain cells learn to fire together and he eats!

02/13/2026

Selene is home and had a successful polyp removal! 
 
My amazing vet found two polyps - one coming out of her Eustachian tube, which was removed behind the soft palate and another large polyp in her ear. The stalks of both polyps were removed, so the likelihood of recurrence is very low. 
 
As you may notice, Miss Selene experienced a fairly common complication of this procedure: she woke up with Horner’s syndrome. Horner’s syndrome occurs when the sympathetic nerve fibers that run through the middle ear are irritated, causing symptoms like a droopy eyelid, constricted pupil, or elevated third eyelid. This doesn’t cause pain and is often temporary, usually resolving itself in a few months. 
 
Nerves are exceptionally fussy. It doesn’t take much to anger them and it can take a long time for them to recover. Even the most flawless polyp removal can result in Horner’s syndrome due to the location of these nerves. 
 
Selene doesn’t know she looks silly but now that those pesky polyps are gone, she’ll be able to hear colors! 
 
If you’d like to donate towards Selene’s care, we’d appreciate that so much! Her bill for today was a steal at $650! Thank you, friends! 🩷🫶🏻

02/12/2026

It’s Franklin’s 2nd birthday! 🎉  
 
Caring for a chronically sick fospice kiddo is immensely emotionally and mentally exhausting. I only share his good moments but there are lots of hard moments too. I’d give anything I have for him to be healthy and live forever. Unfortunately, all I can do is give him as many happy days as his broken little body will allow. 
 
I’m amazed he’s two and I hope we get many, many more happy days! Send us all your good vibes for lots of good days! 💙🫶🏻

02/08/2026

Meet SELENE! 🩶

Selene has a nasopharyngeal polyp that has evaded surgical capture a few times and she was surrendered so we can take her to a surgeon experienced in tricky polyp removal to have it fully removed.

While benign, nasopharyngeal polyps will often grow back when not removed completely and they can cause an array of symptoms including nasal discharge, noisy breathing, obstruction of the airway, discharge from the ear, head tilt, and loss of balance to name a few. The symptoms will correlate with the exact location of the polyp.

Luckily, Selene has been quarantined prior to intake, which means she can safely meet Emmett without having to be quarantined here first. I’ve really slowed down on possible infectious disease intakes because Franklin can absolutely not get sick. I quarantine obsessively and Selene won’t meet Franks, but I’d really prefer not to have any infectious kiddos in the house at all out of an abundance of caution.

Huge thank you to for grabbing Miss Selene and passing her to my favorite transporter, Sara! Transport volunteers are truly lifesavers!!

02/05/2026

Apparently what’s mine is his. 😂

Emmett still doesn’t recognize food or understand how to eat, which means, to feed him, I’m opening his mouth and popping each little meatball of food into his mouth individually. He does pretty well once the food is in his mouth, avoiding his cleft palate, but usually by now, my cleft kittens are willingly taking the food from my hand.

I can tell he’s hungry and wants to eat and we have a routine so I know when he wants more and when he’s done. He’s just going to make me work a bit harder to get him to eat more independently. Hopefully, he’ll get there! 🩶

01/31/2026

Does your dryer lint clean himself? Mine does! 🩶

01/31/2026

Sullivan is gone. 💔 It happened a few days ago but I needed time to grieve him.

He was being treated for pneumonia, receiving several antibiotics, nebulized medicated breathing treatments, oxygen therapy, and all the supplemental care and despite all of it, he never responded. Each day he declined more and more until his little body couldn’t fight anymore.

Although Sullivan’s time with me was short - way too short - he left a big hole in my heart. To honor him, I’m preparing to help another little lady who needs surgery. I’ll tell you more about her in an upcoming post once I get her, but I’m hopeful she’ll do well and we can find her the most perfect forever family and that will go a long way to heal my heart! 🩷🫶🏻

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Jacksonville Beach, FL

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