The stray cats of Phuket finally have a place to rival their homeless canine cousins.

Lady Marchig of Switzerland donated 25,000 U.S dollars to help the Soi Dog Foundation (SDF) build a Cat Facility to provide some much needed helpa to control the stray cat problem in Phuket.

Gill Dalley, said, ?It?s not a shelter for cats but will instead be more like a hospital, where we will treat cats and then let them back on the streets. We will also be sterilising as many as we can.?

Gill said that it was a massive bonus for the cats to have their own facility, as previously they had to share the accommodations with other soi dogs.

?This made them incredibly stressed and certainly didn?t help in their healing process,? explained Gill.

For the last few months, the Phuket media have been following the SDF?s race against time to raise the necessary 5 million baht to avoid closure of its building.

The foundation purchased half the land on which the shelter is located in 2009 but must purchase the other half by the end of the month.

Gill said, ?If we don?t pay in time, they can theoretically raise the fee of how much we need to pay.?

Gill told the Post that she was quietly optimistic about its future though, ?We are only around 20,000 U.S dollars away from our target, and so have already prepared the documents and formally applied to purchase the rest of the land.?