Animal lovers, prepare to have your hearts broken by loyal family pet Onyx.

The nine-month-old pit bull terrier has been left with burns covering a third of his body after he saved his family from a fire in their home in Florida.

On Thursday morning last, Onyx's cries woke up his family, alerting them to a fire on the back patio. His owner Trevor Myres raced to the back patio, where the fire had started, and found the dog on fire. He doused the pet with water while his partner Sierra Plair got their two sons to safety.  

Onyx has now been left with injuries that require weeks of expensive treatment, money his family simply don’t have. But here is where the kindness of strangers came to the fore.  

Staff at the Tallahassee-Leon County Animal Service Center and Northwood Animal Hospital tolD WXTL: "Our goal is to help pets stay in their homes with their families."

"Given the traumatic event this family had just experienced, we knew we needed to do whatever we could to help them keep Onyx at home."

Staff at the facility set up a Facebook campaign and linked PayPal account to allow well wishers to donate money for Onyx’s treatment.

On Sunday, Northwood updated concerns animal lovers, saying:

Onyx update: He is hanging on, but still suffers from severe ocular damage from the fire, and secondary kidney complications. Today Dr. Brumfield transported Onyx to University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine's small animal hospital so that he can receive care from a variety of board-certified specialists. They admitted Onyx right away and had a veterinary ophthalmologist come in this afternoon to assess Onyx's eyes and add to his treatment if possible. The UF doctor complimented Northwood on our high quality of care for Onyx, and will continue specialized treatments in Gainesville to give him the best chance to recover. Thank you to everyone for your positive thoughts and donations - without them, Onyx's family would not be able to afford the intensive treatment he needs to recover from such a tragic incident. We will keep you all updated as his recovery continues.