Heroic Franchisee Foils Break-In at We Love Pets A We Love Pets franchisee put on their hero's cape recently as he came to the rescue of a couple whose house had been broken into while they were on holiday.

Clients Hannah and Ben had booked We Love Pets East Coast to look after their cats while they were on a half term holiday with their two children.

On the second day of the holiday, when a member of the team arrived to feed the cats, they were greeted by a sea of smashed glass inside the house.

Franchisee Jake Stock, owner of We Love Pets East Coast, picks up the story: "The first I knew was when a member of my team rang me at 8am to say they had arrived at the property to feed the cats and been greeted by broken glass when they opened the front door. I told them not to go in and, as I only live a two min drive from the property, that I'd be there immediately. When I arrived, I called out 'Identify yourself if you are in the house' but no one replied, so we made our way in. Our first thoughts were for the cats, they are indoor cats, and we were worried they may have escaped during the burglary. Luckily, we found them hiding under a bed upstairs, scared, but otherwise unharmed."

Jake continues: "My team member stayed in the bedroom with the cats, talking to them and reassuring them, while I went downstairs to call the police and the homeowners. I was on the phone with the police for about half an hour while they took the initial details. Then it was time to call the homeowners. Obviously, it's a call everyone dreads getting when they're away on holiday, but they were reassured that I was there, the cats were ok and that I wouldn't leave until one of them got home. It turned out they were only a couple of hours away, so Hannah decided to drive home, and I waited at the house until she got there."

During the six hours he was at the house that day, Jake liaised with the police, called a glazing firm to secure the smashed back door and even cleared up the broken glass. "No one would want to come home and find their home like that; it was the least I could do," said Jake.

But Jake's heroics didn't stop there, once Hannah arrived home and after she'd finished talking to the police, Jake took her out for lunch to help settle her nerves. Jake said: "If my wife had been through something similar, I'd be grateful for someone taking her out to lunch; it just seemed like the right thing to do. After all, we'd both had quite the day."

Commenting on the stressful affair, homeowners Hannah and Ben "Jake was absolute Godsend; going the extra mile as he did, made a very stressful situation much easier to deal with. He was incredible; not only did he tidy up the broken glass, but he also called a glazier to fix the back door. Jake's help meant the difference between the whole family having to pack up and come home or just me leaving for 24hrs. We honestly cannot thank him enough."

Jake said: "Thankfully this isn't the kind of situation we come across very often, but we were happy to help and ultimately, relieved we were able to locate the cats fairly quickly and that they hadn't come to any harm."

He continued: "Some homeowners rely on automatic feeders when they go on holiday, and we can understand the temptation, but this situation highlights the very real need to have someone coming into your home regularly to feed and check on your animals while you are away. Although this job wasn't exactly normal, caring for our customers and their pets, is at the heart of everything we do."