An 81-year-old woman in Thailand has touched hearts online after spending 1 million baht (around RM130,000) to buy a house just so her beloved stray cats would have a safe place to live.
The woman, identified as Kanokwan Panwichien, reportedly purchased the old wooden house located in an alley in Sukhothai province purely out of concern for four cats that frequently sheltered there.
Kanokwan, a former director of the Phitsanulok Provincial Court Office, said she lives with her son and first started caring for stray cats several years ago after one wandered into her home and later gave birth.
Over time, the number of cats grew to 12, and she continued looking after them by vaccinating, feeding and neutering them.
However, one cat named Namtan later gave birth to three kittens named Klang, Lek and Namtan Sai.
The four cats reportedly loved hiding inside an abandoned house located near the entrance of the alley, forcing Kanokwan to constantly walk over to feed and check on them.
Eventually, she began feeling guilty about the cats occupying someone else’s property and decided to purchase the house herself for peace of mind.
According to Kanokwan, she paid a 500,000 baht deposit before settling the remaining amount through monthly instalments of 25,000 baht over 20 months.
She has now fully completed the payments.
The elderly woman admitted life became extremely difficult while paying off the house because almost her entire pension went towards the instalments.
She revealed she was left with only around 4,000 baht (about RM500) each month for her own expenses, forcing her to live very frugally during that period.
Despite the financial hardship, Kanokwan said she never regretted the decision because she simply wanted her cats to have a safe and secure place to stay.
Now that the house has been fully paid off, she said she finally feels relieved and can continue peacefully spending time with her cats once again.
The heartwarming story has since gone viral online, with many netizens praising her compassion and calling her love for animals truly unconditional.
