A Cork woman has described her family's devastation after their dog was viciously attacked.

Sylvia McCarthy says the family dog - a 5-year-old Jack Russell called Marvin - was stabbed near their home in Mayfield.

The dog was attacked with a knife, which resulted in his throat being slashed and his leg cut.

He was buried in the back garden over the weekend.

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"We were going away and I put him out the back then, we couldn't find him anyway", she told the Pat Kenny Show here on Newstalk.

"So I drove round the back road anyway and I was only gone five minutes, and my son phoned me (and) said someone's after calling up that my dog was down the back and his throat was after being slashed".

"I started crying then cause I couldn't believe it".

She says he was found by passers-by, who were afraid to move him.

"We didn't want to move him because the man said his head is practically nearly off".

"He was in agony, I don't even think he was blinking", Sylvia said.

 Marvin the Jack Russell | Image via @NeilRedFM on Twitter

"Who would do this, what kind of people would do this?", her daughter asked her.

Marvin survived until 9:45pm that night, and then passed away.

A reward for information has been offered to try and catch the killers. Sylvia says they want to catch those responsible.

"I don't care what it is - I have to find out who did it, we have to".

Sylvia said it was clear: "He was murdered - there's cruelty to animals and there's what happened him (which) was just unbelievable".

Listen to her full interview below: