we rescued our little spit fire Atticus he was a basset with a birth defect of a crooked front leg so no one wanted him we felt sorry for him and so he became part of our family. we already had one basset,ryobi who we had gotten as a puppy. Atticus was probably about 4-5 when we got him, and we were blessed to have him as part of our family for 8 years,. he fit in real well and was such a character. he must have been abused by his previous family as he would often bite your leg as you walked by but with patence and love he got over that(except for a few relapses). He would follow me around the house always wanting to be close he would be very voiceterous when he was happy and always happy to see you come home. he loved to take car rides and when we got our RV he jumped right in ready to go for a ride. He loved laying out in the sun and loved it when we would work outside then he could have the best of two worlds be out in the sun and be close to us. On that fateful day a few days ago i had no idea that our whole world would change. He went out ok and and as i said before i heard him cry and ran out to see what was wrong and he was dragging his hind leg behind him. I carried him inside and then took him to the vet. they sedated him and took x-rays they said he had arthritis in his back and that he had a torn ACL, that with pain medications and keeping him quiet we would wait and see if he would heal at all of if surgery would be needed. but when i brought him home he couldn’t use either of his back legs. so we waited to see if it was the sedations effecting him. but by late that night he still couldn’t, took him back to the vet so they could drain the pee and poo out since he couldn’t go. After a rough night of him not relaxing or sleeping much and seeing how misserable he was not being able to move and considering his age and other issues, his front legs being one of them how would they hold out with him trying to hold himself up and not sure if he would make a recovery and if he did it would be a long way off and would require two trips a day to the vet to have him drained. I just didn’t want to be selfish and put him through that. boy the tears are coming as i write this. He was such a trooper but didn’t understand why things had changed and why he couldn’t walk anymore, we let him go on wed. the 6th of march. the house is alot quieter and sadder right now. we miss him terribly. You will be miss my little Atticus(kiss kiss for his nick name) you will always hold a special place in our hearts.

— Lynette from Seattle, WA