Forever Hounds Trust is celebrating securing backing from the charitable arm of one of the UK’s biggest and most successful independent pet food companies.

The Burns Pet Nutrition Foundation, part of Burns Pet Nutrition, a family company in Wales that makes specialist foods designed for the health and well-being of pets, has unveiled three charities it will support in 2018.

One of these is Forever Hounds Trust, which works tirelessly for the welfare and rescue of greyhounds, lurchers, whippets and other sighthounds. Founded in 1996 as Greyhound Rescue West of England, over the last 20 years the charity has found loving forever homes for over 9,000 dogs across the country.

Independent of the greyhound racing industry, the charity is entirely reliant on fundraising and donations to cover the substantial costs of caring for and homing dogs. On that basis, Jan Lake, chair of trustees at Forever Hounds Trust, said she was delighted to receive the support of Burns.

Jan said: “We’re delighted to have been chosen as one of Burns’ Charities of the Year, and look forward to working together. We have many mouths to feed at Forever Hounds Trust and are very grateful to Burns for their support of our vital rescue work for greyhounds and lurchers throughout England.”

The other two charities backed by Burns in 2018 are: UK German Shepherd Rescue, which rescues and rehomes German shepherd dogs; and Dogs for the Disabled, an Irish charity that trains assistance dogs to assist physically disabled children and adults to carry out a range of practical tasks.

The Burns Pet Nutrition Foundation has run the Burns’ Charity of the Year since 2015 in addition to other community schemes including Burns in the Community and Burns by Your Side, a scheme that helps school children improve their literacy and communication skills with the aid of trained volunteers and their reading dogs.

The chosen charities will receive free, healthy pet food which has been developed by Veterinary Surgeon, John Burns and has been feeding happy and healthy pets since 1993. The charities will also receive expert advice from Burns’ team of in-house nutritionists, joint promotional opportunities, and in some cases, financial donations. These new charities will replace the two charities it supported this year: the National Animal Welfare Trust (NAWT) and Appaws for Autism.

John Burns, Veterinary Surgeon and founder of Burns Pet Nutrition, said: “Myself and the Burns Pet Nutrition team are extremely passionate about supporting and giving back to the community in any way, shape or form possible – and the same goes for charities in need of the support they aren’t currently receiving.

“We are looking forward to working with the selected charities throughout 2018 and, hopefully, they will feel the benefit of the support Burns Pet Nutrition can offer. We’re proud to be entering our third year of running Burns’ Charities of the Year, and we look forward to the years to follow.”