Squeak faced a tough journey when he was given no water on his flight to the UK

Feral cats in Greece eat tourist scraps during the summer but go hungry in winter

The Tilos stray is named Squeak as he made a crying sound as a kitten

Ali Gill paid more than £1,000 in air tickets and vet bills to rescue the Greek cat

A holidaymaker has spent £1,000 to bring a starving kitten back to England after falling in love with the vulnerable animal on a Greek island holiday.

Rejected by his mum and battling to survive with only half a tail and an injured leg, the tiny kitten was discovered by Ali Gill, of Penzance, Cornwall.

Now the compassionate holidaymakers has paid more than £1,000 in air tickets, taxi fares and vets' bills in a two-month-long international rescue moggy mission to fly the little bundle of fur back to Britain.

Squeak the kitten was one of many cats abandoned on the Greek Island of Tilos

She's made a loving new home for the twelve-week-old kitten who she's named Squeak because of the pitiful cries he made when she first saw him.

The story began when Ali went to the tiny island of Tilos in the Aegean just over two months ago to stay with a friend, the author Jennifer Barclay.

Squeak was surviving in a cardboard box in an abandoned house in Megalo Horio. He had only half a tail and was rejected by his mother.

Times continued to be tough for Squeak when a bigger male cat attacked him, leaving him with an injured leg.

Huge numbers of stray cats roam the streets on the island of Tilos because while people believe in feeding them, neutering is not a common practice so they're breeding out of control

Natacha, a French house-sitter, had discovered him and kept him safe in a cardboard box in the abandoned house, treating his injury and his fleas daily.

'I arrived at the end of May for a holiday, and helped to feed him and I quickly fell for him', said Ali Gill.

'He was very vocal as well as being playful, affectionate, plucky and determined to survive.

'He was amazing - right from the start, as soon as he saw me he started making this crying sound which is why I called him Squeak.

'Despite his injuries he looked so lovely and healthy - not like so many of the other strays on the island and I didn't want him to end up like all the rest.'

Homeward bound: New owner Ali Gill gets Squeak ready for his journey to Rhodes for quarantine

Her first thought was to find a home for Squeak on the island.

But on Tilos, as on many other Greek islands, there is a booming cat population, many of them strays, and most people who care already have enough to feed.

'Those same cats that are well fed all summer on prize morsels from homes and restaurants tend to go hungry after October when visitors leave and restaurants shut, leaving them to fight over what scraps they're thrown by the much reduced winter population of the island' said Ali.

'On Tilos the population goes down to 300 or so in winter.

'The local people feed as many cats as they can, but they don't believe in neutering them.

'Foreign residents organise for the vet to come from nearby Rhodes once or twice a year to castrate the cats, in order to stop the island being knee-deep in underfed moggies.'

Travelling in comfort: Squeak was relaxed in his travel case as he prepared to head to his new home

Ali visited several potential homes for Squeak without any luck.

She posted a message on a Tilos Facebook page, which is used as a semi-official message board for residents and visitors, appealing for help but none materialised.

'In the meantime, I realised I had grown very attached to Squeak, and started to look into taking him back to Cornwall' said Ali, who lives with partner Lyn and their four pet cats.

She phoned all the airlines and found the service Airborne Pets, who told her that cats can only be transported from Rhodes to the UK in the hold of the plane.

'The cost was high - £540 to £680, depending on the flight - but at least I knew he'd be safe, and would only have to endure a few hours of distress for a comfortable, healthy life.'

Home from home: Squeak has settled in well to his new life in Cornwall and is truly pampered

But she had to factor in the vets' fees in Rhodes for a microchip, inoculations and pet passport, flea and earmite treatments, an airline-approved crate, plus three weeks in the kennels before Squeak would be given the all-clear to fly.

'It was a big financial commitment but I decided to go for it, and I would do extra work over the summer' said Ali, who had to put in extra hours' work as a therapist and family worker to pay for his passage from Greece.

When she took the ferry from Tilos to Rhodes for her flight home to the UK, Squeak was with her in his crate.

'He attracted a lot of attention from other passengers, but he still managed to sleep on board, clearly at ease!' she said.

Landed on his paws: Squeak has settled into his new Cornish home well, relaxing in the sun and receiving cuddles from his new owner Ali. The island moggy has been 'eating us out of house and home' according to Ali

'We had 24 hours in Rhodes to make all the arrangements with the vet and the kennels.

'The main question remaining was how to get Squeak from the kennels on to the plane after his stay in the quarantine kennels, because I had to go back to Cornwall ahead of him to return to work.

'I was confident that the kennels would arrange it, but the owner was going away to his native Bulgaria, leaving the animals in the care of his elderly uncle.

'He couldn't think of anyone who would take the cat to the airport.

'Then I met a taxi driver called Andonis, who had driven me back from the vet to my hotel with Squeak in his box. Andonis had two rescue cats of his own.

'I researched where Andonis would need to drop off the kitten at the airport, and Michaelis at the hotel Savoy in Rhodes town agreed to print out the information for him.

Settled: Ali says Squeak is now quite at home and is cuddly and playful and growing strong

'Thankfully, Andonis kept his promise - on the day of the flight, he picked up Squeak from the kennels and chauffeured him to Rhodes airport, then looked after him for another hour and a half when the Swissport officials refused to take him at the agreed time.

'At the eleventh hour, Squeak was put at risk once again when the Swissport officials gave him no water in his box for the four-hour flight to the UK.

'According to international shipping regulations, animals have to have water.

'Meanwhile, at the other end, I was making the five-hour drive from Penzance to Gatwick airport, where he was due to arrive at midnight - which added the cost of a hotel to the final bill!

'Squeak the survivor made it through, of course. He went berserk when we let him out of the box in the hotel room, joyfully bounding across every newly-experienced surface throughout most of the night.

'What a lucky cat - going to live in England', said a goat farmer from Megalo Horio. Squeak is fortunate where many Greek strays are not, fully recovering from injuries he got on the streets and finding a happy new home

'Now he's settled in at our home. He's very cuddly but still playful. He's bigger and stronger, and the wound on his leg hasn't healed completely but he no longer limps. You can feel where it was broken and wasn't treated.

'And after his long, complicated and expensive journey, he'll have a good, healthy life where he won't have to fight for food and shelter.

'I was told that Irini, a goat farmer from Megalo Horio, thinks it's wonderful - he said "What a lucky cat - going to live in England".

'It ended up being a much more expensive holiday than I thought, but Lyn was very supportive.

'Squeak is becoming confident with our other cats and he's eating us out of house and home.'

The Greek Cat Welfare Society was set up to raise funds to help keep the area's thriving feline population under control humanely.