The following was written by Dr. Renee Fleming from Guelph Animal Hospital who has been fostering and treating Mama May and her kittens. We send our heartfelt condolences to Dr. Fleming, and to the staff at Guelph Animal Hospital who had all fallen in love with Pretzel.
Rest in peace sweet little kitten. You touched a lot of hearts in your short time on this earth…

“We lost our sweet little Pretzel today. He took a downhill turn yesterday but rallied overnight. Sadly, he collapsed this morning and we had to say goodbye.
Pretzel was born with a malformed sacrum and was missing some lumbar (lower back) vertebrae. Besides his hind end deformities we were never certain if he had other abnormalities stemming from missing spinal nerve segments in this region. He had physio and acupuncture and he needed multiple little bum baths daily to keep him clean. His momma (May) and litter mates completely accepted him and it was rare he alone despite his inability to get around. He loved playing with our hair and enjoyed being on his back getting his belly rubbed.
He woke me at 4 am for breakfast today and I was so happy to see him literally scooping the food into his mouth with his little paws. He met my cats and got some Ewan snuggles and I hope that his last night was as comfortable as I could make it. I don’t know why he took a turn for the worse but we were out of ways to help him. Poor little Pretzel.
Taking care of a special needs kitten can only happen when you are surrounded by compassionate, dedicated and hard working people. I am so grateful for the TLC he received everyday and I know we made his short life the best it could be. I’m so grateful to have a team that was willing to put in the time and dedication in order to give him every chance at life. I ❤️  my Guelph Animal Hospital team -you all keep me going when sometimes things get a bit too hard – thank you for being amazing every single day.”