Kitten Nuggets

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

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! 🫶🏻🩷

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!!

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