An animal lover has spent thousands of pounds on transporting 41 street cats she rescued in Spain back to her house in the UK. 

Laura Inglis, 49, shelled out from her savings to ship the cats from the Costa del Sol back to Britain. 

And the self-confessed cat lady has now managed to squeeze the cats into the two-bedroom home of her 75-year-old mother Norma in Edinburgh. 

Laura had spent eight years living on the Costa del Sol while she worked as a project analyst in Gibraltar. 

Glasgow Times:

She began adopting injured or abandoned cats she found wandering the streets near her home in the town of Puerto de la Duquesa. 

But when she decided to move back home to spend more time with her mum, Laura was forced to bring the cats along as well. 

She said: "I could not bear to leave them there because they had all been through such a traumatic time already and most likely they would not survive. 

"So now in I am in Edinburgh with 41 cats, which is not really suitable because I live in the city centre near to busy roads. 

"So I am now in the process of finding each and every one of them a safe and loving forever home. 

"However, before I can rehome any of them, I need to make sure that all are dewormed and deflead and that they have blood tests and inoculations in order to ensure they remain in good health." 

Kindly Norma has accepted her new guests - but on the condition that they are eventually rehomed. 

Laura only allows 20 cats into the garden at any time so as not to annoy their neighbours. 

She has already paid out £8,000 of her own money on transportation, passports, microchipping and rabies jabs just to bring the cats into the UK. 

Extra blood tests and jabs alone will cost an estimated £80 for every cat, not to mention the monthly £600 for cat food. 

And so Laura, a contractor with the Royal Bank of Scotland, is hoping to raise £10,500 needed to pay for the treatments. 

She said: "I am not a charity and I do not receive any assistance financially from any charities or other cat organisations. 

"Everything I have previously done and still do for the cats has been paid out of my own pocket. 

"I do not qualify for any aid here because I work and therefore I am not classed as on a low income - even although I am almost destitute with paying for food and vet bills." 

Laura was able to bring the cats over from Spain with the help of ALStrays, an organisation which works to rehome abandoned and stray cats. 

Chris Marshall, a partner in the business based in Spain, said: "It's unusual for one person to have that many cats brought back to the UK. 

"But that doesn't mean it's unusual to have accumulated that many animals. The way they are treated in Spain is pretty atrocious. 

"There are a lot of expats who can't abide what's happening to the animals and start to feed them, which is a double-edged sword in that it can create a larger cat colony. 

"I admire what Laura is doing but I think she may struggle to rehome the cats in the UK. 

"But they are safe and looked after and they are going to have a much better quality of life." 

Laura was lucky to find an advert for ALStrays when she was looking for ways to bring the cats back to Scotland. 

She said: "I almost made myself sick with worry wondering how on earth I was going to overcome this situation. 

"I barely earned enough to cover my own bills plus the cost of cat food and vet care, and I received no help from any charities. 

"Over the years I had spent every single penny of my savings on my cats and their care and I genuinely did not have anything left to pay for their transport overseas to Edinburgh. 

"I had received several quotes from pet transport companies all asking for an astronomical amount which was just out of the question. 

"I would have had to have won the lottery to pay for all of that. 

"I was at a loss as to what to do and my position was becoming desperate. 

"I had to get home within the next few months and my family, also on limited income, were unable to help financially. 

"Then one day whilst researching the internet, and looking for yet another way of overcoming the major problem of getting all of my cats to Edinburgh, stumbled across ALStrays." 

Some of the cats are being treated at Thistle Vets in Edinburgh. 

Well-wishers can donate to help the rescued cats at: www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/laura-inglis-2