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?!
