My name is Lynne O’Donnell. I’ve just relocated from London to Melbourne after many years abroad as a foreign correspondent. Bringing my 13-year-old cat, Aero, home required six months of preparation — vaccinations, blood tests and compliance checks — at a cost of more than £5,000, in addition to quarantine fees on arrival in Australia.

Aero was cleared for travel at every stage.

She was collected from my home in London on February 27 by PetAirUK, a pet transport company owned by a large international veterinary services group, IVC Evidensia. She was due to fly on March 3 via Dubai. When flights were cancelled due to the war in Iran, she remained in the company’s care for nearly a month before being rerouted via Sri Lanka.

When she arrived in Melbourne, Aero was in a critical condition, requiring immediate emergency treatment.

She was blind, dehydrated, underweight and unable to walk. She had an infection and hypothermia. She was taken directly from quarantine to an emergency veterinary hospital, where she spent a week on IV fluids, antibiotics and constant monitoring. She was in intensive care for three days and required multiple procedures for severe constipation.

Veterinary specialists have raised serious concerns about her condition in the period prior to travel and have indicated that her presentation was not consistent with age alone.

Her treatment is ongoing and has already reached approximately AUD $13,000.

PetAirUK initially denied any wrongdoing. I have formally raised a complaint and am pursuing the matter. The company has also asked me to remove references to their responsibility from this page, while making statements to British media that Aero was in good health on arrival — a position I dispute.

This fundraiser is to cover Aero’s immediate medical care while PetAirUK’s investigation and my complaint are ongoing.

As a journalist, I will also report on this experience — not as an isolated case, but as part of a wider story about the risks, costs and lack of accountability in the international pet transport industry, particularly when global events disrupt tightly managed systems.

If you are able to help with Aero’s care, I would be very grateful.