KUALA LUMPUR, March 3 — Canine welfare project Malaysian Dogs Deserve Better (MDDB) has started a sponsorship programme to help it overcome its financial difficulties.

MDDB sponsorship programme co-ordinator Brenda Chia said the programme allows the public to ‘adopt’ dogs by making monthly contributions towards the keeping of their chosen pooches.

Funding to look after its almost 400 dogs is one of MDDB’s biggest challenges, she added.

"What we raise monthly is always insufficient and because of this we looked at other ways to raise the much-needed funds,’’ she said.

To kickstart this year’s sponsorship programme, MDDB will be having an event tomorrow (March 4) and Sunday (March 5) at the IPC Shopping Centre in Mutiara Damansara.

Besides the sponsorship programme, there will also be an adoption drive and merchandise sale, said Chia.

Under the sponsorship programme, the public can either sponsor a regular dog, a disabled dog, a geriatric dog or a blood donor dog.

"The sponsorship fee for regular, geriatric and blood donor dogs is RM100 a month and RM150 for disabled dogs,’’ said Chia.

The funds go towards the daily operations in taking care of the dogs.

According to Chia, sponsorship can be made either monthly, quarterly, half-yearly or annually and one person can sponsor as many dogs as they want.

"Each dog can also have several sponsors,’’ she added.

Chia said MDDB’s blood donor dogs are a familiar sight at Gasing Veterinary Hospital in Petaling Jaya where they donate blood to ailing dogs for free.

"It helps worried pet owners and rescuers to know that our dogs are at hand to help save canine lives,’’ said Chia.

The event at IPC Shopping Centre will be at the ground floor beside the main entrance near the Absolute Thai restaurant.

There will also be a special promotion of MDDB merchandise comprising of T-shirts and dog shampoo.

For details, contact Chia at 012-2316963.