Dog grooming community helps groomer with cancer

A dog grooming community has come to the aide of a fellow groomer who has been forced to put her business on hold while she undergoes treatment for cancer.

Marion Preston, who runs Pretty Pups Dog Grooming Salon in Didcot, appealed for help with the 150 dogs on her books after she was diagnosed with lung cancer.

"The response was absolutely overwhelming," she said after she was inundated with support on social media from local grooming businesses who were offering to temporarily take on her clients until she can come back to work.

"It just felt like it was a community coming together to help another groomer," she said.

Preston added that she felt happy that her "special" customers were "going into trusted hands".

Preston admitted she was worried about the fact that she would not be able to get sick pay, as she is self-employed.

"As long as all my dogs and all my client are happy, that's really all I could wish for," she said.

Louise Smith, runs Garden Grooming and said she "immediately said yes" to helping Preston.

She added: "Having cancer treatment is stressful enough in itself, without worrying what's going to happen to your customers."

She said she was happy to take care of the dog owners until Preston was ready to return to work.

"Otherwise a business that she spent years building up and her client base could be gone within a very short space of time," Smith said.

You can follow BBC Oxfordshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.