An Essential Pet Care Guide to Beacon
Augusta, a current resident at Beans Cat Café, 325 Main Street.
It only takes a walk along Main Street to appreciate how much Beacon folks love their animals. In fact, the city is home to not one, but two animal rescue shelters, an incredibly popular cat café, two pet stores, a pet spa, a dog park, and, of course, countless pampered fur-family members. With this in mind, we wrote this week’s feature to offer insight into where to go for valuable information regarding keeping your pet safe, where to adopt, and where to get what you need for your four-legged family member locally.
A pup participant in last year’s ARF 5K Run & Walk with the Dogs at Memorial Park.
Be ready for anything
Around 250 people packed the VFW hall on Main Street several weeks ago to attend a lifesaving event focused on Pet First Aid. The event was hosted by Dutchess County’s Medical Reserve Corps (MRC), and the session was an eye opener and essential for any animal lover.
Over the course of two hours, Dr Paul S. McNamara, Chief of Surgery at the Hudson Highlands Veterinary Media Group—which has a location in Beacon at 461 Fishkill Avenue— presented possible life-saving skills for pets including CPR, recognizing signs of heat stroke and hypothermia, identifying gastrointestinal issues, allergies, and poisoning. All situations any animal lover should be prepared for.
The Dutchess County Animal Response Team (DCART) was on hand to advise attendees on how to include pets in emergency preparedness planning. This specialized team from the Department of Emergency Response is made up of veterinary professionals and trained volunteers from the community. They support the county’s Emergency Management at the scene of a disaster or in emergencies involving pets or livestock. To sign up for future trainings, email mrc@dutchessny.gov. Here's what we discovered…
It’s important to create a pet first aid kit
Every pet owner should have a pet first aid kit. It was noted that many items in a family kit would be useful, but there are some elements that are essential to include for pets such as important phone numbers (veterinarian, emergency clinic, poison control, animal control, non-emergency police); a copy of your pet’s medical record, a muzzle to prevent bites, non-stick bandages or strips of clean cloth to control bleeding, and much more. For the full list of recommendations visit the American Veterinary Medical Association.
Learn Pet CPR
The Dutchess County Animal Response Team offers training on Animal CPR. They have a CPR dog that makes it easy for anyone to learn how to perform this lifesaving procedure. If you’re interested to learn more about this free training, also email mrc@dutchessny.gov.
Prepare for an Emergency
If you have a family emergency plan—whatever the emergency—it should include your pets. Planning in advance enables you to jump into action without having think on the spot under pressure. There’ll be less stress and pressure in the (hopefully) unlikely event that you need to evacuate. Here’s some tips we learned that we’ve already put into place.
First and foremost, know ahead of time what to do with your pet during an evacuation. Unfortunately, many public shelters and hotels will not allow pets, so it’s important to do this homework in advance. You can build a buddy system with friends or neighbors to make sure someone is available to care for your pet if you’re unable to do so.
Have copies of your pet’s vaccination record and most importantly, make sure your pet is microchipped with your current address and information. And if you didn’t think microchipping was important, here’s a chilling fact: an estimated 10 million pets go missing annually in the U.S. Of those without a microchip, only 15% of lost dogs and 2% of lost cats are reunited with their owners.
Just as you would build a family emergency supply kit, you’ll also need to think about your animals. This includes having several days’ supply of food and water, an extra supply of medicine they may need, as well as a picture of you and your pet together in case you become separated. (This helps with any proof of ownership and identification issues you may have). There’s so much more to learn about how to take care of your animals in an emergency. And it's important to be one step ahead as the impact of climate change increases. To learn more, visit https://www.ready.gov/pets.
Where to Adopt
Mid-Hudson Animal Aid at 54 Simmons Lane, one of two rescue shelters in Beacon.
Anyone looking for a new fur family member is well served in Beacon, which has two shelters to adopt from. The Animal Rescue Foundation (informally known as ARF) and Mid-Hudson Animal Aid share the same campus at 54 Simmons Lane. You’ll find cats and dogs waiting for their forever homes at ARF, and Mid-Hudson Animal Aid has a wonderful set up that allows the cats to safely roam within the building. Both organizations are 100% volunteer run, no-kill sanctuaries for homeless animals.
Ways to help these two incredible groups include volunteering, setting up a monthly recurring donation, animal sponsorship, or simply buying from their “wishlists” on Chewy and Amazon so needed goods can be shipped directly to the organizations. Visiting the animals for adoption is primarily by appointment but check their individual websites for details. On Sunday, May 18th, there’s an opportunity to take part in ARF’s highly entertaining 5K Run & Walk with the Dogs at Memorial Park to raise funds for the group. A record 220+ people and 75 dogs took part last year. 2025 marks the 10th anniversary of the event, so look out for special activities and raffle prizes on the day.
It’s all about relationships
Nap time at the Beans Cat Café.
Anyone who loves cats knows they usually answer only to themselves. Sometimes they’re aloof, sometimes super-affectionate, and occasionally downright bonkers. That’s what makes them such entertaining companion animals. If you’re interested in adopting a cat but would like to get to know a potential adoptee a little more first, grab a cup of coffee and a sweet treat and hang out with the cats at Beans Cat Café. All the cats at there are up for adoption through the owners’—Jessica and Justin Strika—partners at Hudson Valley Animal Rescue & Sanctuary. Prices range from $8.00 for a 30-minute session to $13.50 for a 60-minute session in the Cat Lounge. Since opening they’ve helped more than 550 cats get adopted.
Somewhere to play
The Beacon Dog Park is a membership-based 501(c) (3) non-profit located at 195 Robert Cahill Drive, next to the glorious Memorial Park. This great, secure spot is perfect for pups to let off some steam and socialize. It’s open from dawn until dusk seven days a week. The small membership fee covers the cost of insurance, supplies, and maintenance to ensure the Dog Park stays clean and well-cared for.
Pet Stores & Dog Grooming
Pet supplies store, Beacon Barkery, 192 Main Street.
How many other small cities are home to two pet stores? We guess not many. You’ll find Beacon Barkery at the west end of Main Street (192). Beacon Barkery offers food and baked goods for dogs and cats as well as accessories. Towards the east end of Main Street is Feeds R Us (351), which sells a fun selection of pet toys in addition to a wide range of pet food. And if you’re looking for dog grooming, boarding, or pet sitting services, check out Paws and Mittens One Pet Spa at 186 Main Street.
Veterinary Services
The waiting room at Beacon Veterinary Associates.
The Beacon Veterinary Associates is conveniently located at 395 Main Street, and it’s open six days a week, Monday through Saturday, for both regular and emergency care. Hudson Highlands Veterinary Medical Group (461 Fishkill Avenue) is also open Monday through Saturday, and it offers all veterinary services as well as boarding and grooming.
It's good to have choices when it comes to looking after our pets. It’s also helpful to know there are so many resources are right here on our doorstep, or close by. And whether you have a car or not, access to all these resources is convenient and easy.
If you know an animal lover who might like this feature, or someone who might enjoy The Beacon Beacon, please tell them about us, or share this feature with them. And if you haven’t yet, sign up to our weekly newsletter to keep up with all good things in Beacon, NY.
Until next time…
The Beacon Beacon🧡
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