The queen of purr-sia
A GOLD Coast woman wants to spend $70,000 importing 24 cats from Saudi Arabia – and she’d like you to help pay for it.
Self-confessed cat crazy Lauren Braithwaite plans to bring 10 cats from Saudi Arabia, where she is living, into the Gold Coast – at a cost of $50,000 – when she returns home next year.
She also hopes to raise more than $20,000 to ship 14 cats to Canada where they will be rehomed by a local rescue group.
All 24 cats are living with her in Saudi Arabia.
“I get upset when people tell me it’s ridiculous spending that much on the cats, but for me it’s just money,” Ms Braithwaite said. “I only want money in life to help animals.”
Since moving to Riyadh in 2013 to work as a coronary nurse, Ms Braithwaite has fostered dozens of cats, many of which have found homes overseas in Canada or the US.
But to bring back her furry family members to Australia is proving a more challenging and expensive process.
In order to send the cats to Australia, Ms Braithwaite, who is hoping to raise $40,000, needs to organise rabies shots six months prior to them being sent over, vaccinations, import permits, boarding and quarantine.
And because Saudi Arabia is an “unapproved country”, the cats must go through Bahrain first in order to come to Australia, Ms Braithwaite said.
It will cost more than $5000 per cat.
She said the rescued cats were strays found around her compound in Riyadh.
Some had been found with severe eye infections, some had been hit by cars while others had been starved or abused.
She said she had tried to rehome cats in the local area but found they were often dumped back on the streets or left in unscrupulous pet shops.
“Animals have always been my passion and when you literally cannot leave your house or go anywhere without seeing animals in need here, then to me, there is no option but to help,” she said.
“It’s very easy to get depressed over the animals, but it’s the animals that keep me going. (My fiance) and I are looking to buy a few acres of land, set up a cattery business ... because we know how hard it is to leave our beloved pets in other people’s care.”