SF AMC, 2343 Fillmore Street, San Francisco, CA (2025)

10/22/2025

Meet Kodi. He went to his primary care vet on 8/9 for mild back pain. In a whirlwind over a few days, Kodi rapidly declined: losing the use of his hind limbs and ability to urinate. Kodi went to a neurologist elsewhere & an MRI revealed a tumor causing severe spinal compression. On 9/13, they performed a laminectomy, but due to the complexity of the tumor, they were not able to do as much as planned. Kodi was discharged 8/15.

On 8/19, Kodi’s very in-tune mom knew something was off and brought him into our ER. It turned out the steroids he was on had caused GI bleeding resulting in life-threatening anemia, requiring an urgent blood transfusion and a 4 day hospital stay with all hands on deck: ER, Internal Medicine, and Neurology.

He recovered well but by 8/23 he still had no use of his hind legs or ability to urinate on his own. Dr Toyoda followed Kodi’s recovery closely and noticed on 8/29 he was losing deep pain. By 8/30, he had lost deep pain entirely. Once this happens, chances of walking again rapidly diminish-36 hours after losing deep pain, the likelihood of recovery with surgery is 5%. Kodi’s very dedicated mom opted to have Dr Toyoda do a revision surgery with the understanding he would still likely never walk again. Now- we’ll hand the mic over to Kodi’s mom for an update:

“Without your staff’s emergency care, he wouldn’t be alive today, let alone walking! Initially, his prognosis was tough, but the team’s dedication and expertise saved him. Within 24 hours of revision surgery, he regained deep pain. A few days later, he was able to empty his bladder on his own, and soon after, movement returned to his hind legs. With two intensive surgeries and anemia all within a span of two weeks, and then from needing bladder expression for weeks to nearly running now (still a bit wobbly!), it’s been a miracle. His Klee Kai personality is back! I can’t thank Dr. Ang, Dr. Wong, Dr. Ybarra, Dr. Sabhlok, Dr. Toyoda, Monica, Caitlin, Chelsea, and everyone at SFAMC enough for their amazing care, clear communication, and compassion.”

WOW- how inspiring is Kodi and his mom resilience ? And how incredible is our team?!

10/20/2025

ANOTHER LIFE SAVED!!👏👏 This is a very special one. We received a blast email from the incredible shelter with a plea to help save this angel’s life. She was deemed unadoptable by another shelter and was on a 48 hour euthanasia list due to a severe heart condition that would require a very expensive and risky specialty surgery. Scroll to the end to see the adorable pic we received in the email plea. As you can imagine, we all instantly fell in love, and per usual our incredible Dr Mehl rose to the occasion.

Lucy had a grade 6/6 heart murmur due to a congenital PDA. With this condition, animals will usually not make it past 1 year without surgery, and even if they do, chances of the surgery being successful reduce drastically with time due to the fragile nature of the vessels involved. Lucy is 6 years old- it was incredible that she made it this long, but her cardiology work up revealed she wouldn’t have much time left if the surgery was not performed ASAP.

Between Pets Lifeline contribution and the surgeon/hospital contribution, we were able to proceed with surgery. Dr Mehl came in on her day off and Dr Polidoro helped with the surgery, as it is a rare one that requires the hands of another surgeon. There were some sweating moments in the OR, but surgery went well and Lucy recovered from anesthesia uneventfully.

One of our surgery coordinators, Judy, fell in love with Lucy and agreed to foster her for her recovery. As you can see, she settled in beautifully, making friends with her foster brother right off the bat.

A huge thanks to Pets Lifeline for giving this very special pup another chance at life as well as to our enormously talented and compassionate surgeons, our empathetic management, and an incredible support team that really came together to give Lucy outstanding care.

As for Lucy- she is a bundle of personality and so adorable. She instantly warms up to everyone and gets along great with other animals. She loves to cuddle. Essentially/ she’s perfect. And…. as of now she is currently looking for a forever home.

10/18/2025

For the final day of tech week, some of our very own beloved family! Truly said best by Dr Wong in the last slide. We are so lucking to have such an incredible team. Also stay tuned for a special story on the pup in the 3rd and 4th pics!

10/13/2025

This week we celebrate our amazing veterinary technicians! Their dedication, compassion, and skill are at the heart of everything we do. Join us in thanking them for their hard work and care.

09/29/2025

Alright another roundup of cuties to brighten your day 🥹 I personally can’t stop giggling at that last one but they’re all so darn adorable. Guess who is who!

Franklin
Molly Moon
Toby
Beans
Fig
Charcoal
Phoebe
Nova
Frankie
Jan
Pam
Ari
Leo

09/29/2025

To make up for getting a little behind, a back to back of cuties from the last couple months! Can you guess who is who?

Elsa
Blue
Cali
Chopper
Wallace
George
Bronco
Hercules
Bella
Bella

09/23/2025

PART ONE: Come along for the ride! This case demonstrates the benefits of having primary care, ER, and multiple specialists all under the same roof. It also highlights something very difficult that sadly happens too often: It can be so hard for pet parents and vets alike to navigate a complex situation where there are lots of unknowns, but finding answers or performing the best treatments really adds up and sometimes just isn’t financially feasible. Our team did a great job of working together and adjusting course as needed for sweet Sterling and his amazing mom who loves him so much.

Stay tuned tomorrow for the outcome- we promise it’s a really good one! And we’d love to hear your theories below on what we found 🤔

08/25/2025

Dr. MacFarlane, one of our amazing primary care vets, just got back from Maui and wanted to share something very special she participated in. We aren’t surprised that even on vacation she’s helping animals in need! Here’s what Dr. MacFarlane had to say about Maui Humane Society’s Dog on Demand program:

“People can take shelter dogs out for a day adventure. It provides exercise, socialization, and a break from the higher stress shelter environment, and can even help improve behavioral issues. Some dogs spend a long time there without finding a home or getting transport to a mainland shelter where they are more likely to find a forever home. Kristoff (the cute doggie in the photos) was surrendered in APRIL of 2025, so he had been in the shelter for 4 months! Luckily he had just been picked by a rescue to go to the continental US next week through their Wings of Aloha program with Alaska Airlines, where West Coast visitors can volunteer to es**rt a pet on their flight home.”

It’s clear in these precious pics that the adventure really made Kristoff’s day, and he had a huge impact on Dr MacFarlane as well. She mentioned that if he hadn’t already been set up for a transfer she would’ve been coming home with a third dog! 😂

Tagged is Maui Humane Society if you want to treat a pup to an adventure on your next vacation, help es**rt a pet back to the US, or if you’re a West Coast shelter interested in participating in the transfer program !

08/23/2025

A very heartwarming story of how Wanda got a second (and third!) chance at life, thanks to and our incredible specialist surgeons, Dr Mehl and Dr Polidoro.

Wanda was in a reportedly high-kill shelter with a 6/6 heart murmur. Sadly, dogs with serious medical conditions at these shelters are euthanized. Dogwood amazingly rescued Wanda with the intent to cover future medical costs when she was adopted, and she found her forever home a month ago with Sherryl where she instantly became an important part of the family.

Unfortunately upon consulting with a cardiologist, it turned out Wanda had a large PDA (Patent Ductus Arteriosus)-a birth defect in which a blood vessel that is supposed to close after birth remains open. It was causing severe overload to her heart, and sadly she wasn’t a candidate for the minimally invasive transcatheter PDA closure. Without surgical PDA closure ASAP, they said Wanda would develop heart failure within weeks/months and would likely not live longer than a year.

This is a big, complicated open-chest surgery which costs $10k-$13k, understandably much more than the rescue group could afford. Dr Mehl has quite a reputation in the Bay Area for being a bleeding heart, so they reached out to see if she could help. Dr Mehl then teamed up with Dr Polidoro and they successfully performed the PDA closure last week!

When I spoke to Sherryl today to see how Wanda is doing, she said she is still regaining her appetite but overall doing great. She then shared with me the beautiful adoption story.

Sherryl is retired and was wanting to find a companion. Her daughters volunteer at Dogwood and mentioned there was a dog they thought would be perfect for her. Sherryl went to their website and instantly fell in love with Wanda instead. When she broke the news to her daughters, it turns out Wanda was who they wanted to show her. Sherryl says it was fate and Wanda was clearly meant to be a part of the family. At home she is very sweet, loving, and always excitedly greets visitors.

Pics: Dr Mehl with Wanda and Sherryl, Wanda’s adorable hospital profile pic, day-of-surgery pics, and some adorable pics Sheryl sent us.

07/30/2025

We're Open! Our Emergency Room is now open and ready to care for you and your pets. Thank you for your patience and continued support!

07/29/2025

Dear Clients! We wanted to let you know that our Emergency Room at SFAMC is currently closed today, Tuesday, July 29, as we complete our move to a new space upstairs. While we had planned to reopen at 5:00 PM, we’re not quite ready yet.

We’ll share an update as soon as we have a new reopening time.

Thank you so much for your patience and understanding as we make this exciting transition to better serve you and your pets.

— The SFAMC Team

SF AMC

10/22/2025

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