I'm Rick, and Bat is my best friend. He's been everything to me since the day I adopted to him, and he's only become more dear to me - and a lot of you - since then. He's the best dog I ever could have hoped for, and I can't give up on him.

Christmas Eve, Bat started acting a little off. Knowing he has a tendency to get anxious stomach issues, I waited a few days to see if it would clear itself up, as it always has before. Then it didn't, and he started getting bloated and lethargic. On the 27th, I took him for a walk and he could only go about 50 feet and had to lay down twice. I had to carry him back inside.

I immediately got him to a vet, and after some diagnostics, they determined he had an unknown mass in his abdomen that has caused his spleen to swell significantly. For now, they're not sure what the mass is, but it's guessed to be cancer. They can't determine anything for sure until he gets his spleen removed, which needs to happen as soon as possible.

I am looking for help in paying for the cost of his diagnostics and surgery, because I don't have the money to cover it but I cannot stand the idea of losing my best friend because I just didn't have enough money. He's a good boy and he deserves so much better than that.

Right now, I'm hoping to raise around $3,000 to cover the costs associated with his diagnostics and spleen removal. From there, we can start to figure out what comes next, and what might be wrong. Literally any amount of money would be an enormous help, and I cannot begin to say how very deeply it would be appreciated, and what it means to me. This dog is my best friend. I'm not ready to lose him.