An animal lover who had to restart his fledgling business from scratch after he nearly died has fought his way back to win a national award.
Ian Mackenzie was facing redundancy and an uncertain future when he decided to start Pet to Vet, a specialist “pet taxi” service from his home in Holbeach.
But within his first year of trading Ian suffered a serious setback as a result of complications from sepsis and glandular fever.
After four months off, Ian had to effectively restart the business from scratch – but it has since gone from strength to strength and is now the preferred partner for 12 vet practices in the area and works alongside the RSPCA and other agencies.
And last week his hard-fought success paid off when he beat off 1,000 entries from across the UK to win a gold award for his category in the Scoot Headline Business Awards and was crowned National Champion for 2016.
Ian said: “I was delighted to win and have to thank my clients, without whom we would not have enjoyed such an amazing journey so far.”
Ian had worked in the food industry for 30 years before the threat of redundancy forced him to make the decision to work for himself and start Pet to Vet.
Locally the business takes animals to the vets or groomers, waiting for them and returning them home.
It has become a vital lifeline for a number of elderly and vulnerable people and has even directly saved the lives of two dogs.
Ian said: “We have had a Labrador and an Alsatian who both had literally minutes to live by the time we delivered them to the operating theatre, but thankfully – to the delight of their elderly owners – both have made a full recovery.
“It was a great feeling to take them for the their final check-ups where they were given a clean bill of health and should go on to enjoy long happy lives.
“Our service also helps to ensure elderly pet owners can continue to gain the benefits and pleasure of pet ownership when their own health or mobility fails, safe in the knowledge that with our support their pets will be looked after and receive the treatment they may need.”
Pet to Vet even got involved in a mercy dash to collect an elderly dog owner’s house keys from an intensive care unit when she fell ill and her dogs were left locked in.
It also operates a long distance transport service to specialist referral centres and hospitals and has recently won a contract with a group of thirty five practices all over the Midlands and south east to transfer animals to their own hospital in Cambridgeshire.
