Kitten Nuggets

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

08/24/2026

Wilson is home! 💙 
 
This little monster man has finally found his forever home and I couldn’t be more excited about it! Adoptions have been tough lately and I was starting to think we’d never find his people. I’m so glad I was wrong! 
 
Wilson’s new mom is retired and she is a very active foster for several local dog rescues so Wilson is going to be spoiled silly and have a blast with his new sister, Lena, and the revolving door of future foster pups! 
 
It was never the plan to adopt Wilson and Mavis out together. I spent a TON of time training them separately, walking them separately, crating them separately, etc to avoid littermate syndrome, but also because I had never planned for them to go home together. Kittens absolutely do better in pairs, but puppies need so much one-on-one attention and training, it’s ideal to do one at a time. 
 
Wilson is a super high energy kiddo and he’s going to thrive with a high energy sister and a bunch of fosters! Mavis would much rather melt into your lap and never do anything remotely close to athletic. 
 
Bye my sweet little monster man! Be a good boy! 💙

08/05/2026

Sweet Ottilie is currently in surgery for a chance to live a bubble-less life! 
 
Ottilie came to me because she had a flat chest. As soon as I could feel her ribs, I could also feel pectus excavatum. Neither felt severe, but as she grew, she needed oxygen to breathe comfortably. At first, she required quite a bit of oxygen and would become distressed when she was out of oxygen. 
 
Slowly, I weaned her oxygen down and when she was able to be on room air for a bit without being distressed, we were able to safely transport her for xrays. Xrays ruled out other possible causes of her increased respiratory effort, so our only option is to repair the pectus excavatum. She can’t live in an oxygen cage forever and although she does tolerate room air time, she becomes labored when she’s out for too long. 😩 
 
Out of all of my cases, I’ve lost the most kiddos to pectus repair so it’s not my favorite surgery to pursue, but I don’t have a choice. 
 
If you’d like to donate to help give sweet Ottilie a chance, we’d appreciate that so so much!! She’s such a spunky little menace and she deserves to live a normal life with a future adopter! 🫶🏻🩷

06/26/2026

Miss Ottilie is growing like a w**d! 🌱 
 
She’s eating well, she wants to play but she’s a bit exercise intolerant so she can only do a little bit of playing before she needs to rest (like Franks - that’s his reality to this day). 
 
The plan is still to get Ottilie in for a chest xray. Behind the scenes I’ve been exhausting every option to make that happen safely for her. Unfortunately, every mobile vet with mobile xrays has declined to work with us (likely because they do not want to see an oxygen dependent patient). What’s frustrating is that I have several xray machines but my sensor is no where near big enough to capture a chest xray on a kitten. Even if I found a big enough sensor, they’re often not plug and play, but require special software to work which likely won’t communicate with my practice management system. 😩 
 
I’ve got a few more options up my sleeve, but for now she’s stable and she’s growing. This makes her a stronger candidate for surgery should she need it. So send us all the good vibes that I can pull off an xray appointment soon and hopefully that gives us the info we need to treat her!

06/04/2026

We’ve been feeling fresh today!  
  
I’m slowly titrating Ottilie’s oxygen down hoping to do a room air trial soon, but we’re taking it slow! If she remains stable on room air we can get her into the vet for an xray. At this point, we may not need the xray, but I think it makes sense to take one juuuust to make sure things look good inside that chest!  
  
If she improves and doesn’t require any additional treatment, my best guess (without an xray at this point) is that she had a gnarly case of pneumonia which was made worse by her chest wall deformities (flat chest and pectus, both more mild) and she just needed more time to recover!  
 
If she can’t tolerate life on room air, she may have a peritoneopericardial diaphragmatic hernia that needs surgery, she could have a heart condition (less suspicious for this but it’s possible), or some other congenital abnormality. 
 
She can’t live in her bubble forever. If diagnostics reveal a condition that we can’t treat to get her to a place where she’s comfy on room air, then we’ll make that decision when we get there. For now, she’s stable and comfortable in her bubble and our goal is to get her to a place where we can do diagnostics safely. 
  
Thanks for rallying behind our little bubble girl and sending her all the positive vibes! She feels the love! 🩷

05/31/2026

Last night, I was cleaning Ottilie’s oxygen cage and she went into respiratory distress. 😩 Anytime I open the door, the concentration of oxygen drops. Even if I work fast, her space still leaks oxygen into the surrounding room more quickly than the concentrator replenishes it and she’s usually in less of an oxygen rich environment for a little bit.

Last night, her breathing became extremely labored, she began to open mouth breathe, and cry. I sat next to her bubble for a good 20 minutes while the space concentrated with oxygen again and her breathing stabilized. 😭 I didn’t video her in distress. I’ll only record animals in distress to show my vet or for my future reference to document her progress and help with future decision making. Filming animals in distress for social media is not my priority.

This - the fact that she is truly oxygen dependent and cannot survive outside her bubble - makes it extremely difficult to take her to the vet for diagnostics. Franklin didn’t decompensate this much when out of his bubble. 😩

I do know offers portable oxygen. Unfortunately, cats don’t typically tolerate being masked. I also can’t mask her and drive. Given how rapidly and severely she decompensates when out of oxygen, masking her for a 35 minute drive isn’t safe. She really needs to be within a space that is appropriately concentrated. There’s also too many possible ways she could find herself outside of oxygen for too long while at the vet. It would take an immense amount of coordination and communication to prevent her from going into respiratory distress so I’m not comfortable with her leaving the house just yet. 😭

The good news is she’s growing every day! Last night, she weighed in at 688g! She is outgrowing this bubble and desperately needs a bigger space. Concentrating a large space also means a more powerful oxygen concentrator, which I have from Franks!

If you’re able to donate or share, we’d appreciate that so much! This little girl deserves a chance to eventually graduate from being a bubble girl! 🫶🏻🩷🫧

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! 🫶🏻🩷

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Jacksonville Beach, FL

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