Meet Linguini! He was born July 27, 2021 one of six pups in the Pasta Litter to “Ghetti” their mom. Within 24 hours our Foster knew there was a problem and found this little boy had a cleft palate that did not allow him to suckle properly. He also had hydrocephalus, which is a lifelong deformity that can result in seizure disorders or result in blindness, deafness, and general unbalance.

Poor Linguini lost 25g of weight after he was born (10-15g is the normal range). So, his foster mama started bottle-feeding him carefully and for many days watched as he lost weight until finally, she had “the talk” about this being his fight and if he didn’t start gaining pretty darn quickly there wasn’t much she could do! Those first days were touch and go; he couldn’t maintain his temperature because he was so small, and had to be kept on a heating pad.

In August things were still touch and go with him, but he was eating more at each feed and getting more feisty. Linguini often went to work with his foster mama, snuggled inside her shirt, so that he could be fed every 2 hours 24/7 with the special formula that he needs (yes, even at night!)

At 5pm September 27, 2021 (one day shy of 9 weeks old) we let little Mr Linguine Gweenie Weenie go. We knew it was always a risk, especially with a cleft palate, but we have avoided pneumonia until now. Linguini's foster mama knew something wasn't right and he was rushed to the vet last night. The staff were amazing with him, placing him on oxygen and fluids with IV medications to give him his best chance. Poor little Linguini just could not be away from his oxygen for more then 2 mins or his colour was really bad. His foster family got to hold him, with him kissing them the whole time as he crossed the bridge.