We're in a nightmare situation, which is sadly not uncommon when you run a rescue for the disabled and difficult cases other shelters won't take, and really need some help.

Mango is in hospital

The first and biggest thing. Our gorgeous Mango, who's been at Moggy Manor for almost her entire life, is in Pride Park hospital in Derby with pneumonia. She's been having breathing difficulties for months now, we've tried every antibiotic going and it just got worse. She started doing an awful hacking cough so we took her to the specialists at Pride, where they found two types of bacterial pneumonia in her lungs – and also some pretty rubbish news.

She's had mucus coming out of one nostril (the same one) since birth, and a CT scan showed why: her left nostril isn't connected to her airways. While flat-faced cats already have difficulties breathing, our poor girl has had to manage on one tiny nostril her entire life. The mucus pours out because it has nowhere else to go.

When we took her to hospital, Mango had low white blood cells and very low platelets. With 4 days of intensive treatment she's doing better and we should be able to bring her home soon – but she's already run up a bill of £5k, and we simply do not have it.

We'll need to speak to some specialist Ear, Nose and Throat vets about her nostril and see if it can be fixed – Pride think if it's opened, it may close again, and with Mango's epilepsy that would be particularly hard because putting her through anaesthetic is very risky and we almost lost her the first time.

I have to be honest, there's a chance we don't get her through this. If it turns out she has to live with one tiny nostril and a tonne of medication for her epilepsy, the obesity caused by her epilepsy meds, acid reflux from deformities inside her mouth and nose, and also potentially complications from pneumonia, we may not be able to give her a good quality of life. (I am so, so angry at the people who inbreed these cats for cuteness and don't care about the suffering it causes them).

We may not get to love her for long (she's only 1), and we may even have to consider the unthinkable if she doesn't get better. But when we took her to hospital as a tiny kitten who'd been returned like an unwanted jumper by the people who bought her, we were told she was "not a goer" – that we should put her to sleep without trying to help – and ever since, we've been doubly determined to get this poor baby well. She'll always be epileptic but I would love to see her breathing well enough to run around and be a normal, if somewhat chonky, happy cat.

Wonky babies

White kittens Fluff and Flump arrived the same day Mango went to hospital. We were told they were 8 weeks, but at 650g and 450g, we think more likely 6. They were riddled with fleas and have very deformed legs – Flump has two normal and two twisted, while poor Fluff has all four misshapen and currently cannot walk.

We urgently need to do x-rays, but we got down to the last £2 in our bank account this week and it's just under £600 per kitten for imaging. Then we'll need to speak to specialists and look at treatment, but for now we'd be happy just to know what's going on inside those poor babies and how we can help.

Flu babies

Kitten season is always especially hard on us, because it's not just babies we get, it's the very sick and disabled ones. We currently have three wobbly tabbies that were found on a farm: Chance, Ace and Lucky. Two are siblings, one is a floof who seems to have lost his mum. All three have cat flu and are on daily meds to try to prevent eye ulcers, and one of the babies is so wobbly he can barely walk. They're a lot of work but we've had kittens like this before, and I'm certain that if we can get them through the flu, they can grow strong and independent and have happy wobbly lives.

How we'll use your donations

The money that we're asking for will first go towards Mango's hospital bill (just under £5k), then to the wonky-legged babies, then the flu babies, and if there's any left, we'll use it to consult specialists and see if there's a miracle out there for Mango. We will keep you updated every step of the way. Thank you for considering our extra-special cats, they deserve a change in luck more than anything.