TOP dog Eric has been hailed a hero hound after rescuing a bedraggled and starving kitten from a nettle patch.

Dog owner Jamie Starrs looked on in amazement when the seven-year-old Rhodesian Ridgeback/Staffordshire terrier cross emerged from the undergrowth - with the cold and hungry tortoiseshell desperately hanging to his face.

After the find near Jamie's home in Pot Green, Holcombe Brook, the six-week-old kitten underwent treatment to nurse it back to health. Now, Tottington-based charity Pets in Need is looking for a loving home for the kitten who has been named Erica in tribute to her rescuer. Jamie said: "Eric, who is himself is a rescued dog from Bolton, was in Holcombe Brook woods while out for his walk.

"He was whining and sniffing in the bushes. When we got him out, he had this little kitten clinging to his face. It was a bit bedraggled and cold, but unfortunately we couldn't keep it. So, a neighbour kindly took her to a local cat rescue home."

Erica is currently being cared for by Dinah Hill of Pets in Need. She said: "When the kitten was found, she was skin and bone and encrusted in flea dirt. Her eyes were infected and her fur was matted from dirt in the wood.

"It had been starving and wouldn't have lasted much longer.

"We don't know if Erica had been born in the open or had been abandoned there.

"A search of the area didn't find any other cats.

"She is a lovely little kitten and, thankfully, has been feeding well and has responded to treatment. She's really sweet but a bit nervous and shy. But she loves to be picked up and stroked." Dinah is anxious to find a loving home for Erica as well as 20 other cats and kittens together with up to seven strays currently on the charity's waiting list. Anyone who can provide a home for the animals can contact Dinah Hill on 01204 852492.