A WOMAN from Ulverston who now lives in Saudi Arabia is appealing for help and funds to find a home in the UK for two kittens.

Christine Dawson, 50, who lives in an expatriate community in the Eastern Province, rescued the felines in August and has launched a GoFundMe campaign to help them.

Born in Ulverston, Miss Dawson moved to Saudi Arabia from Grange-over-Sands to work as an executive secretary for a large company in 2012.

She said: “A big part of the culture (in Saudi Arabia) is that they don’t have cats and dogs as pets. You tend to find stray cats everywhere - they are literally everywhere, and there’s not enough support to try and help them all, so the expatriates do what we can.”

She added: “It’s a really sad situation because in the UK you could send a cat to a cat sanctuary, but here there isn’t such a thing so they really are left to their own devices.”

The expatriates foot the costs of veterinary bills so that the cats they find - which are often sick and malnourished - can be treated and neutered before being released in an effort to keep populations down.

Many cats have been taken into the care of expatriates, but Miss Dawson said the community was now “saturated”, with little room left.

And she is therefore hoping to find homes for two male kittens named Dyso and Smokey; part of a group of four which she rescued in August, two of which have been successfully re-homed.

Dyso and Smokey are currently in temporary foster care, which Miss Dawson said was not ideal. She added if owners could not be found for them, then they would eventually have to be released and left to fend for themselves.

She has therefore set up a GoFundMe page with the aim of raising £5,000 to get the kittens re-homed in the UK. The money will go towards costs such as flights, vaccinations and worming.

Any spare money will go towards the expatriates’ continuing efforts to help cats in Saudi Arabia.

Miss Dawson said: “It’s very upsetting. I wish there was more that I could do but we what can you do? You rescue some, you help some, you neuter some, you try and give them whatever relief you can.”

Visit GoFundMe.com and search for ‘not so cool for cats’ to access the fundraiser and donate. Those wishing to enquire about adoption can contact Miss Dawson through the page.