A PAIR of puppies have been reunited with their mother after they were left out in the cold to die on Christmas Day.

The pups were bottle-fed by RSPCA officers, but it was touch-and-go as to whether they would survive without their mother's milk.

However, yesterday Meg and Jess were suckling from their mother, just days after being found abandoned in Ferryhill, County Durham.

A resident had heard whimpering at about 7pm on Christmas Day behind her house and found the dogs unprotected from the cold, having become separated from their mother.

RSPCA carers are giving their mother time to adjust to her offspring again.

Duty officer for the North-East, Inspector Iain Kane, said: "It has been an emotional reunion for the three, and we have given them some space and time to themselves, but the mother seems to have accepted them completely.

"The mother is very protective at the moment, because she has already lost her puppies and I'm sure she won't want to lose them again."

He said that a woman was helping RSPCA officers with their investigation into the case.

Anyone with information about the abandoned puppies is asked to contact 08705 555999.