'I was frantic the morning my dog was put to sleep. I'll never forget what a stranger did'

A heartbroken dog owner has expressed her gratitude for the "pure act of kindness" shown by a bakery worker on the "horrific" morning she had to say goodbye to her pet.

Tracy Hall was touched by the compassion shown by the Chatwins staff member, saying it "meant the world" to her.

The 46-year-old visited the Alsager branch in Cheshire on June 6 to buy a chocolate cake for her 11-year-old dog Delilah before she was put to sleep that morning.

READ MORE: 'I found a goldfish lying on the lawn - it's now my pet and has a Twitter account'

Overwhelmed by the sudden decline in her Dogue de Bordeaux's health, which came "out of the blue", Tracy had rushed out of her home without any cash.

While she had her phone with her to make a payment, the tills were not operational until 8am and she had no cash.

Seeing how distressed the mum-of-one was, the Chatwins worker gave her a hug and told her to take the cake away for free.

So touched was Tracy by the act of kindness, she shared details of the heart-warming exchange on a local Facebook page to express her gratitude.

It resulted in more than 1,000 likes and a response from the Chatwins area manager offering her sympathy to Tracy and praising her kind-hearted employee.

"She doesn't realise how much that meant to me," said Tracy, who lives with her teenage daughter Nevaeh. "It meant the world. That's why I put the post on - I wanted her to be recognised.

"I had spoken to the vet at 7am that morning and we agreed she had to be put to sleep. The first thing that went through my mind was I need to get my girl a chocolate cake.

"And Chatwins chocolate cakes are amazing! The lights were on so I thought, 'fantastic, it's open'. She saw that I was in a state, I just said 'I need a chocolate cake, I need a chocolate cake'.

"But the tills didn't come on until 8am and I literally only had my phone on me for payment. I had no cash. So she came out from behind the counter, gave me a hug and said take it.

"I needed that. I needed to give my girl a good send off. It was a pure act of kindness. We're still absolutely devastated to lose her but that meant the world.

"I went in the next day and gave her some chocolates which she said I didn't need to do. But I can't thank her enough."

Delilah had suffered a number of seizures the day before she had to be put to sleep. She'd not suffered with any ill health prior to this, but it was found that she had a bleed on the brain, Cheshire Live reports.

"It came out of the blue," admitted Tracy. "I know everyone says this but she really was the most amazing dog you could imagine.

"She was my daughter's best friend from when she was four-years-old - she's 15 now. Everyone who met Delilah loved her."