More than 8 tonnes of dog food donated by animal lovers across China has been delivered to the quake-hit northwest Qinghai Province for Tibetan mastiff breeders, a mastiff association said Sunday.

Tibetan mastiff owners in Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture are facing a serious food shortage as most animal feed stores collapsed in April 14 earthquake, said Cai Wen, chairman of Qinghai's Tibetan Mastiff Association.

The food shortfall would amount to 200 tonnes over the next three months, he said.

The donated food was among a total of 21.7 tonnes of dog food raised by four animal aid organizations through the Internet, and the donations were being transported to the quake zone in batches, said Jiang Hong, an official with the Xi'an based Red Guava Companion Animal Rescue Center, one of the four organizations.

Yushu, a major mastiff breeding region, had about 20,000 Tibetan mastiffs, and about 3,000 of them died in the 7.1-magnitude earthquake.