Last week I had to take my dog to the vet with an emergency. As a result of my dog being ill, I now know about two very important resources that are available in the Hudson Valley for every pet owner.

My dog's name is Pearl and we are still getting to the bottom of what happened to her last week, but if it wasn't for Animal Emergency Clinic of the Hudson Valley in Kingston and Hannaford Supermarket in Highland it all would have been a lot more stressful on me and Pearl.

Animal Emergency Clinic of the Hudson Valley has two locations. One is in Poughkeepsie and the other is in Kingston. I had actually been to the Poughkespsie location in the past but I didn't know they were also in Kingston. I also didn't realize that A.E.C.H.V. is available when your vet isn't. They have hours every night, all weekend and on all major holiday. They are also very professional and very caring to both you and your pet.

When Pearl first got sick they helped me over the phone. Then later that day they took Pearl and cared for her after my vet office had closed for the evening. The clinics were developed by local veterinarians to operate as an extension of their own practices. It is great to know that when my vet isn't available there is a great place to help care for Pearl until she can be seen by her regular vet.

Hannaford Supermarket in Highland and their Pharmacist Ray were a great help as well. My vet had given me a prescription that had to be filled at a regular pharmacy. We all know that prescriptions can be expensive and I am going to guess that most of us don't have a prescription plan for our dog. That's why the Healthy Saver Pet program at Hannaford is so great. It is free to sign up and it gives you access to drugs for you pets at reduced prices. The drug I needed would have been $300 at another chain store but Hannaford and their program cut the price in half. Plus Ray spent time talking to me about the drug and what it would do for my dog. That kind of personal service made all the difference when I was so worried about Pearl getting well and trying to understand the medicine she was being prescribed.

Hopefully your pets will stay healthy and never need either of these services but isn't it a good to know they are there if you need them.

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