NINE dogs, more than £4,000, and a whole lot of love.

An animal charity is thanking kind-hearted Daily Echo readers who have donated in their hundreds to help nine dogs who were found in horrific condition.

The online campaign, which we started two weeks ago, raised £4,298.77 which has now gone directly to helping the poodle-crosses in their recovery.

“There's a lot of love for these dogs,” RSPCA inspector Jan Edwards said.

“We have had masses of people wanting to re-home them.”

Ms Edwards has been involved with the canines since they were found and thanked Echo readers for digging deep.

“That amount of money is amazing,” she said.

“We are very very grateful for people that have given their hard earned cash. It's going to cost around that much to keep the dogs because they will all not be well enough for re-homing for some time.”

Daily Echo:

Dave enjoying a run

She said they are still being given medical treatment and will all need to be sedated then micro-chipped and neutered before they can go to new homes.

Whilst three different RSPCA centres are caring for the dogs - Mount Noddy near Chichester, Ashley Heath and the Ark in Stubbington - they are all working together and will all benefit from the money.

The inspector also would like to pay a special visit to thank two of the 141 donors, Roderick and Hazel Ross, of Warsash, who pledged £2,000.

“I want to go and visit them, show them pictures of the dogs, talk about my experiences with them, and thank them,” she said.

“Their donation was above and beyond.”

People donated from as far as Canada and the story hit international headlines.

Daily Echo:

The eight one-year-olds and their mother were found dumped in the countryside near Winchester just over two weeks ago.

It took vets around three hours per dog to remove their matted and filthy fur, which in total weighed just over 94 kilograms.

Two of the dogs, Kate and Dave, left vets concerned after becoming weak and depressed, but both are recovering.

To donate go to justgiving.com/DumpedDogsAppeal.

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