AN IRVINE woman has thanked the kind-hearted locals who have helped save her dog's life.

Last week the Times shared Bethany Holland's appeal to help raise funds to help her pet pooch Oscar receive life-saving surgery.

The spaniel had fallen down a set of stairs at the beach leaving him with a cruciate ligament injury and in desperate need of surgery.

Bethany had warned that without treatment, she may be left with no option but to put Oscar to sleep "as he will be in constant pain".

She said she and Oscar had been through a lot in their time together, including a spell of homelessness.

Bethany said that Oscar "saved my life" and now it is "my turn to save his".

She is not working at the moment, and only last year she and her partner had a new baby, making it impossible to finance the surgery herself.

Bethany said she had been left unable to obtain insurance for her pet because of Oscar's previous injuries - prompting her to set up an online fundraiser.

And now, thanks to the kind-hearted residents who gave what they could, it looks like Oscar is well on his way to getting the care that he needs.

When the Times first shared the fund-raising page on January 12, Bethany had raised £770 towards her goal - which seemed some way off at £3,500.

READ MORE: Bethany Holland launches fund-raiser to help save pet dog's life

But little more than 24 hours later, her dreams were realised as the donations came pouring in.

More than 200 people contributed an an attempt to help Oscar - including incredibly generous one-off donors who offered help of £600 and £500.

This has saw a total of over £4,000 raised towards the cause, which has now been closed off for any further donations.

An extremely emotional and grateful Bethany responded to the amazing efforts of all involved on social media.

She said: "Thank you to everyone for helping me save my dogs life from the bottom of my heart, I’m forever in debt to every single person for helping me during my difficult times! Thank you so much for saving my dog's life.

"(A) Huge thank you to all the donations, shares, comments, messages and support.

"One week ago I was preparing to say goodbye to my dog soon, but thank you to every single person that has contributed in some way. You are all real life angels, I’m so so thankful to everyone.

"We have a vet consultation with Broadleys Vet Hospital on January 31 and from there they will give me a date for his surgery.

"(I) never thought this would of been possible without every single one of you."