Hima Gowri’s service for pets and pet lovers goes way beyond the conventional grooming facilities. Not only does PetGully come to your doorstep to make your pets clean and beautiful, it also helps you to find boarding for your beloved wards if you have to leave them behind on vacations, and reaches out a helping hand in other ways too. Hima, who has a B.Sc degree in Agriculture and an MBA under her belt, was working in a top software firm, but was unable to find job satisfaction. “The thought of serving society in some way kept nagging me. I wanted to open an NGO, but could not go ahead with it. I was always passionate about pets, and I got the idea of doing something for animals”, says the young woman.
Hima researched the field for nine months before she came up with a plan. She found that though Hyderabad had many pet grooming centres, they were all located in specific localities. She realized that there was scope for a doorstep service. Besides grooming, she found, pet owners needed other facilities too, including veterinary care and ‘match-making’ suggestions. So she decided to start a one-stop shop offering all these and more. And that’s how PetGully was born.
It started in September 2017 as a pet grooming service on wheels, with one van, covering areas like Manikonda and Gachibowli. Now, the whole of the city is covered, and many facilities are on offer. The signature black-and-white vans are equipped with grooming tables and bathtubs, hot water, hair dryers and drainage facilities. Care is taken to see that the localities in which the vans park are not dirtied.
PetGully Van
Hima’s husband and the rest of the family stood solidly behind her as she quit her full-time job to follow her dreams. Though she was plagued by the question whether she was doing the right thing, she never seriously thought of turning back from the path she had chosen. And it has been no easy journey. “Finding competent groomers was one of the first hurdles I faced”, she says. She had to build customer trust, and for that the groomers had to be specially trained. Maintaining cleanliness and hygiene standards of the vans was another challenge, but Hima is now an expert at working out the logistics to ensure that this is done.
Customers could book appointments on the company’s website initially, but a PetGully app was launched in October 2019, making things even more convenient.
Looking after a pet has never been this easy!
