A WEST Devon dog rescue charity has been ‘overwhelmed’ with donations after declaring itself in financial crisis and unable to take any more dogs last week.

Sourton-based Dartmoor View Dog Rescue announced with a ‘heavy heart’ on Facebook that it would be unable to take on any more dogs until it was in a better financial situation, after recently receiving three dogs all in need of major veterinary treatment. But after setting up a fundraising page and appealing for donations, the charity has been saved thanks to the generosity of the community.

The charity, which is run by Pat and Ian Admans from their home, was set up by the couple in 2013 and has taken in 463 dogs in that time.

However, the charity has recently taken in three dogs in need of expensive veterinary treatment — a bichon with bladder stones, a mastiff with an eye issue and a French bulldog with an eye problem and badly infected ears.

Making the announcement on Facebook last week, secretary of the charity Angie Cantelow said: ‘It’s with a heavy heart that we need to announce that the rescue has hit a financial crisis. We, as a rescue, try to find a rescue place for any dog that is sadly in need of a new home, but unfortunately we have had an increase of rescues that have been neglected and illnesses not treated.

‘Fifi the bichon came in with bladder stones and her treatment is expensive and ongoing. The kindest way for Fifi is trying to dissolve them — if this doesn’t work, it will be an operation. We have Dave the mastiff who has entropion [a condition where the eyelid is rolled inward against the eyeball] which has badly scarred his eyelid. He is in so much pain, he needs an operation as soon as possible to put this right and relieve his discomfort, which is also a very expensive. Sadly Hugo is the one suffering the most. Hugo the Frenchie, apart from needing to be neutered and vaccinated, has to have an operation for cherry eye [a disorder of the third eyelid] but the biggest problem is his ears, which the vets say are the third worse they have ever seen. He has six infections in one ear and three in the other plus yeast in the second one. Because they have been neglected for so long, you cannot even get drops in because they are completely blocked with benign tumours. The only solution is a double ear canal removal and that is an operation that will cost thousands.’

The charity said it needed to find a minimum of £5,000 and as a not-for-profit rescue run by volunteers, it had to cease taking in any more dogs for re-homing until it was in a financially better situation.

However, an overwhelming response to the post saw the fundraising website set up for the cause surpass its target within a matter of days.

Owner Pat said: ‘We usually manage our finances, although very tight sometimes with the amount of dogs that come in needing spaying/neutering and not many are up to date with their vaccinations. It is the fact that these three dogs all came in at once with serious, expensive problems that we had to resort to this decision. But we have been totally overwhelmed with the response. We want to say a big thank you to everyone who donated.’

Pat said because of the generosity of the community, both Hugo and Dave had been booked in for their big operations.

‘Any extra money will be held in reserve as we never know when the next dog who needs serious vet help will come in. We have had quite a few come in with bad skin and teeth issues and their bills can run into the thousands, so if we have extra we would not have to worry about taking them in.

‘There are so many dogs out there desperate to be rescued with the threat from some owners of being put to sleep if not, so it is important that we are there for them. Unfortunately, we are used as a dumping ground nowadays by people who are fed up with their dogs or know they have serious health and behavioural issues.’

Anyone who would like to help the charity to continue to help dogs in need can do so by visiting www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/dvdogrescue