Niamh and Niall Hogan are innovative entrepreneurs who have made their love of cats and dogs into two successful business ventures, Cat Minders at Home and Brian’s Dog Grooming.

The couple’s first pet together was a ginger cat named Brian, who had a bad heart condition. After much care and attention from Hugh O’Callaghan at the Crescent Veterinary Clinic, the couple had to make the heartbreaking decision to put Brian to sleep, at just age seven.

“Brian’s Dog Grooming was named after my cat, he was my best buddy and he has been an inspiration for us having our businesses now. I thought it would be nice to keep his name alive,” said Niall.

A fully qualified dog groomer, Niall trained with Perros Sí in Almuñécar in Spain, an intensive course where they teach one student at a time. He set up his business in 2015 and since then, it has grown from strength to strength. As well as having his own grooming parlour in Dooradoyle, he will soon be working one day a week in the Crescent Veterinary Clinic in Castletroy.

“My only regret is that I never did dog grooming when I was younger. I Love working with the dogs, it’s very therapeutic. You start cutting a dogs hair, two hours just disappear and there is a nice sense of achievement out of it,” added Niall.

Niamh who is qualified in cat care and training, dog psychology and has a diploma as a Veterinary Support Assistant and is Garda vetted, started her Cat Minders at Home business in 2012.

“I started the business because I had been looking after family and friends cats and I thought, I quite enjoy this. And also, cats are different to dogs, they are very territorial. We had put cats into kennels before, and when they came out they just weren’t themselves, so I thought there must be something better than kennels, that’s why I started the business,” said Niamh.

Niamh loves playing with, cuddling and feeding her furry clients, and can use her cat psychology on the most timid of pets.

“Most cats relax straight away, I think they know if you are a cat person. With some really timid cats and it could take a couple of visits. I usually leave them come to me, and I talk calmly, in a gentle voice to them,” added Niamh.

Niamh’s cat and dog psychology come in very handy in their busy household, where the couple have 6 rescue animals, a Great Dane, Labrador cross, wire haired Terrier and 3 cats.

“It works because we both really love animals. It’s nice to be able to make a bit of money out of something that you really, really like to do,” added Niall.

www.catmindersathome.com  086 3717050 

 www.briansdoggrooming.com  086 3276735