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I had always had a passion and yearning to work with animals, but no real direction. I left school with no qualifications, apart from a term at secretarial college. I could hardly take notes from a Norwich Terrier, or shorthand from a Springer Spaniel, so I trundled my way through various secretarial/receptionist positions, until my husband was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in September of 1998. I suffered a brain haemorrhage some 3 months later, which was to completely change our lives.

My recovery was slow, but gave me renewed determination to follow my dream of working with animals. When I returned to my receptionist position some months later, fate intervened and gave me a helping hand. I was made redundant, and my modest payout was sufficient to buy a computer for my paperwork, and start a small advertising campaign and so ‘Nina’s Nannies for Pets’ was born.

I wanted to offer people an alternative to boarding their animals, and the security of an occupied home whilst they were away. Animals would not then suffer excess vaccinations, and avoid the trauma of being transported to an alien environment.

We had no backing for our venture. Leaflets were hand delivered by my husband and I, and dog walking gave us a small weekly income. As time passed, work increased and my husband left university where he was studying for a biology degree, and thus my business became a partnership.

Through sheer determination, and working seven days a week (including Christmas Day), our client base increased. From dog walking and cat sitting, we found ourselves looking after menageries, birds, ferrets, cats, mice, rats and even the occasional reptile!

My husband has a focus, and largely escapes the severity of Multiple Sclerosis. The stress of working all hours however, does takes its toll, but we are both so very proud of our achievements, and to date, our family business continues to expand.

We are now able to offer a live-in service, and currently have a steady workforce, employing largely retired people as live in pet sitters. In fact we are now able to offer our service throughout the South of England, and ventured into Europe last year.

Our aim for the next two years is to expand our business nationwide. A bit ambitious you may think, but we have already proved that anything is possible.

"Our last Christmas party had some hilarious moments". It is extremely rare to see our whole team get together because of their sitting commitments, but one of my team mentioned "how uncomfortable it was to have to share your bed with a St. Bernard"! It is essential however, that we adhere to our clients requirements and we have learned to take these little oddities in our stride!

If anyone is interested in becoming a live in pet sitter, and has no other work commitments, I would be delighted to hear from you. Our website www.ninasnanniesforpets.co.uk is awash with information or you could email us HERE for an application form.