I got Zeus from the pound shortly after my divorce. He was wonderful and smart and fierce and loving. After Anna was born I had to find him another home, but I always had visitation rights, and his owners always kept me posted on how he was doing. Yesterday I received a call telling me that Zeus wasn’t eating anymore and wasn’t walking much either.

This morning I picked him up from the elderly couple who’d been caring for him for the past few years and took him to the vet. After she examined him and determined that he had what appeared to be advanced cancer, she gave him mercy while I held him and cried like a baby.

Good boy, Zeus. You were the best.