An elderly woman and her disabled son have been left battered and bruised in a frightening home invasion, which stripped them of their life-savings and left their pet dog dead.

Police are calling on the public to help find the heartless thug who ransacked the home in Farmborough Heights in Wollongong.

Officers were called to the Binya Place property at 9.10pm on Sunday to find a 65-year-old woman with minor injuries and a 37-year-old man with a head injury.

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The man, who is believed to have Down Syndrome, was treated at the scene before being taken by Ambulance to hospital for a possible skull fracture.

His mother was treated at the scene, but did not need to attend hospital.

She has told Nine News, a man not known to them barged into her home, armed with a spanner and threw her to the ground while demanding money.

“He told me he would be back to kill us if anything happened or if the safe didn’t really have jewellery in it.” #9Newshttps://t.co/7j9YC70srr — 9News Sydney (@9NewsSyd) October 15, 2018

Her son, who was in the shower at the time, came out and tried to protect her only to be hit in the head with the spanner.

Their pet Chihuahua also tried to step in and was barking throughout the ordeal, copping two fatal whacks to the head by the spanner.

“He wasn’t even trying to bite him, just barking, trying to defend his family,” she told Nine.

“He caved his little head in.”

While the woman and man were trying to save their dog, the robber ransacked their bedrooms, eventually finding a box full of cash the 37-year-old had been saving for over 15 years.