81-Year-Old Woman Spends 1 Million Baht to Buy a House for 4 Stray Cats
An 81-year-old retired court official in Sukhothai Province purchased a 1 million baht house as a dedicated home for four stray cats she feeds daily, completing the mortgage payments on her pension alone.
A reporter visited a house located in Muang District, Sukhothai Province, after learning that a charitable woman had purchased the property for 1 million baht solely as a residence for four stray cats.
Upon arrival, the house was found to be an old wooden structure on stilts. The woman who bought the house is Kanokwan Panwichian, 81 years old, a former director of the Phitsanulok Provincial Court office.
Kanokwan explained that she lived with her son, but several years ago, stray cats wandered into the house and eventually had litters, totaling 12 cats. She cared for them with compassion, having them vaccinated and neutered. However, one cat named "Nam Taan" (Sugar) had three kittens: Nong Klang, Nong Lek, and Nong Nam Taan Saai. These four cats preferred to hide in an old vacant house at the entrance to the soi. Kanokwan would regularly visit to feed them, and after a long time, she felt guilty troubling the house's owner.
She decided to purchase the house for 1 million baht for peace of mind. She paid a down payment of 500,000 baht and took out a 20-month mortgage at 25,000 baht per month, which she has now completed.
Kanokwan said that during the 20-month mortgage period, life was quite difficult as she used nearly her entire pension for the house payments, leaving only 4,000 baht monthly to live on. She had to tighten her belt and budget carefully for food and expenses. Now that the payments are finished, she feels relieved and can peacefully live and rest with the cats. She gave the other house to her children to live in as before.
