Meet the Vet

Hi, I’m Laura, the founder and vet at ZipVet. I live just outside Cobham with my horse-vet husband Pat, two lovely (most of the time) children Lily and Ben, daft lurcher Zip, aloof cat Reggie, and six rescue chickens.

I graduated from the University of Bristol in 2010 with a degree in Veterinary Science and first-class honours in Anatomical Science and started my career in mixed practice in Newmarket (where I met my now husband). We then embarked on an intrepid 4000-mile drive to The Gambia to deliver a veterinary ambulance to The Gambia Horse and Donkey Trust, where we stayed for several months treating local working equids and pets. My veterinary “theatre” on the back of a truck under a tree was quite different to what I was used to!

I soon realised that small animals were where my passions lay, so pursued further training in Emergency and Critical Care at The Royal Veterinary College Queen Mother Hospital for Animals. Since then I’ve worked in both private and charity small animal general practice around London and have had the opportunity to see all sorts of interesting and unusual cases and meet some very memorable pets.

For the past six years, I have been the Head Vet for a wonderful PDSA charity hospital in London. This allowed me to further my special interest in complex medical cases and geriatric care. However, I often felt like these pets needed far more time than I was able to give them and saw many become stressed by regular trips to the vet. This experience, along with the realisation that there was a need for a more specialised home care service, gave me the idea for ZipVet.