A SAUCHIE woman who has used her spare time and money to rehome more than 400 cats and dogs says she would happily keep helping animals “forever”.

For Nicola Page, 43, helping pets in need is something she has done since childhood.

Since early 2014, she has spent thousands of pounds and countless hours nursing and caring for hundreds of animals in need.

She told the Advertiser: “I have always done it since I was wee, I brought back stray cats to the house.

“But for the past four and a bit years people have been getting in touch and asking me to help – they just get a hold of me on Facebook.”

Nicola added: “When I take these animals in I like to be able to love them and show them what it’s like to be in a nice home before I give them away.

"I’ve rehomed around 200 cats and probably the same with dogs. I couldn’t really count all of them.

“They’ve all gone to good homes.”

But Nicola, who has three kids and works part-time at a vet's office, repeatedly talked down the effort she makes.

Indeed, it was Nicola’s sister Barbara, 49, who approached the Advertiser and persuaded her reluctant sibling to tell people about her work.

Barbara said: “She always plays it down, but she does it all off her own back.

“I just think it’s incredible how much of an effort she makes. I’m so proud of her.”

Nicola acts as a one-woman animal rescue centre in the Wee County.

Not only does she care for animals, she finds them foster families, carries out home checks before giving them away, and provides their new families with pet food too.

Thankfully, she has been helped out along the way.

She said: “Cameron and Greig vets in Tillicoultry have been a big help with providing treatment to the animals.

“My kids are really good too because they really help me, so it’s a good wee team."

As well as taking in strays, Nicola has also helped animals that have been mistreated and neglected.

She spoke about how one of her six dogs spent its first few years in a crate in Ireland, where all it was used for was breeding.

Now, Nicola’s on the lookout for new foster families for her animals, and hopes her latest cat Fifi, currently at the cat protection centre in Fishcross, can find a new home.

Despite the huge cost and effort she puts in, Nicola claims she has no plans to stop.

Nicola said: “To love something and nurture it costs nothing.

“I would never see myself not doing this. Forever I will be the wee crazy cat lady or dog lady.”