PETS at Home shops in Winchester and Southampton have teamed up with the RSPCA to raise funds for the welfare charity.

The store in Winchester and Shirley, Southampton, are both encouraging pet lovers to purchase a ticket for £1 as part of an initiative run by the RSPCA.

Those tickets enter customers into a raffle for a number of prizes, including dog sitting vouchers and pet portrait experiences.

Over the weekend, the shops had been selling the ‘peel and reveal’ tickets to help animals in need this autumn.

Winchester store manager Jennifer Russell said: “The whole team at our store geared up to raise as much money as possible to help the RSPCA reach their fundraising target.”

Shirley manager Tara Attree added: “To know that this money will go towards supporting fantastic rescue centres who work to help unwanted and abandoned pets is a real motivator to do the best we can.

“We called for all local pet owners and animal lovers to get onboard and donate whatever they could to this important cause.”

The fundraising drive began last week, and came to a close after this weekend.

Sarah Colberg, from the RSPCA, said: “We are delighted to once again be supported by Pets at Home colleagues and customers as they raise vital funds to support the RSPCA’s work to promote kindness and prevent cruelty to animals.

“Our 24-hour helpline receives a call on average every 30 second and last year alone we received more than one million calls and rescued over 114,000 animals. We are only able to be there for animals in need due to generous donations and support, so thank you to everyone for getting involved.”

There are more than 440 Pets at Home stores across the UK.

National welfare charity the RSPCA helps injured, sick or abandoned animals across the county, and has a welfare centre in Stubbington.