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Lyssa McGowan, CEO of Pets At Home, is surprisingly candid about the challenges women face in top positions. As one of ten FTSE 250 bosses, McGowan says that when she was younger, ego-driven men would talk about her in meetings, adding that this happens even now.
‘Every woman around the world has experienced that, right? It doesn’t end just because you become a high-level leader, he says. “At the beginning of my career I would have been against it and wanted to prove myself.”
But she admits that, over time, she has realized that “being a woman has a different power”: that is, that empathy can earn respect.
‘You can lead as a woman and take advantage of all that that means. “A lot of people can relate to the fact that I am a mother of three children and a pet owner,” she says. “I think you can connect with people in a different way.”
We met at a Pets At Home store in New Malden, south-west London, where the 47-year-old spent the morning working the checkouts, selling bags of pet food and products such as calming spray for anxious pups.
The customers McGowan serves have little idea of the concerns she must face as the director of a company with 450 stores. At the top of the list for the retail sector are the National Insurance and minimum wage increases announced in the Autumn Budget by Chancellor Rachel Reeves.
Animal lover: Lyssa McGowan with her two-year-old Labrador Barney at the Pets At Home workshop in south London
The increase in the employer contribution to National Insurance alone will cost retailers £25bn and Pets At Home faces an £18m hit, which has been a major factor in the 33 per cent drop in price of the company’s shares during the last six months.
McGowan says: ‘This came as a big surprise to businesses. If they had consulted more widely, they would have realized the impact on young and flexible workers, as well as part-time workers and women.’
Because the National Insurance contribution threshold for businesses has been reduced from £9,100 to £5,000 a year per employee, employers are paying much more for people who work only a few hours a week.
McGowan says: “It is now more expensive to have two part-time employees than one full-time employee doing the same job.” But it’s already done. It is what it is.’
The budget hit comes as the veterinary sector is the subject of an official investigation.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is looking into allegations of veterinary fee fraud, a cause of concern for Pets At Home, which runs 447 veterinary practices, mostly under a joint venture model.
Under its Vets 4 Pets division, which the group acquired in 2013, doctors pay a management fee to the company to open and run their own practice.
This business unit is boosting the company’s profits as it opens more in-store practices. In contrast, the retail sector has been hit by weak consumer confidence in recent months.
The RSPCA has previously sounded the alarm over concerns that higher veterinary fees, insurance and other essentials such as food were prompting families to abandon their pets. And there is no doubt that spending on care is a huge concern for the estimated 16 million households across the UK who have a pet. Last year there were 22,503 abandonments, a 7 per cent increase on 2023, according to the RSPCA.
Part of the problem and the reason vet bills are so high is the sharp decline in independent practices. More than half of the UK’s practices are now owned by just six major corporations: CVS, Independent Vetcare, Linnaeus, Medivet, VetPartners and Pets At Home. This compares to one in ten in 2013.
McGowan acknowledges Pets At Home is at the center of a trust battle, with the CMA set to conclude its investigation this summer. But, unsurprisingly, McGowan defends the veterinary sector.
McGowan, who owns two Labradors, Fred, ten, and Barney, two, says she is fully aware of the pressures pet owners face.
She says: ‘In the UK, people don’t understand how much healthcare costs because of the NHS.
‘If you go to the United States, people are much more aware of how much, for example, an MRI or an operation costs. Here this can very often come as a shock.’
She continues: ‘Our vets will make sure to give your pet the best care you can afford. They are not pushing any particular treatment. They’re trying to find the right one.

The research comes as older members of Generation Z (those born between 1997 and 2012) are buying pets instead of homes and delaying having children for their ‘fur babies.’
“Twenty years ago, if your cat was diabetic, they would probably be euthanized, whereas now they are given injections,” he reflects. “The humanization of the way we treat our pets is underway.”
Despite fighting on so many fronts, McGowan’s enthusiasm for his work remains immaculate. She praises the retail sector as one of the few where you can start on the shop floor and finish in the boardroom.
But although he worked in a supermarket and a toy shop as a teenager in Buckinghamshire, he had an unconventional route to the top.
Her CV includes a 12-year stint at Sky, where she was consumer director. She describes herself as a “huge extrovert”, listing off a list of hobbies ranging from yoga to dog walking to scuba diving: “You can’t look at your daily sales figures, so it’s very relaxing.” I absolutely love it.’
Her appetite for socializing means she’s not a fan of remote working, saying: “I really love interacting with people, so I don’t enjoy working from home.”
‘I don’t think that for me video calls are as effective as in-person ones. A lot is lost with non-verbal cues.
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