San Francisco Veterinary Housecalls

Just yesterday I said goodbye to my 15 year old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, my little Albert. I got Albert when we were both just puppies and he was my whole world. As he grew older and developed more and more struggles my family and I made the decision to let him go, and to do so in the comfort of our own home, in Albert’s own happy space. In general I will now forever recommend this process to be done in home, if it’s at all possible for you and your pet, but more than that I will never be able to fully process how lucky I have been to find Dr. Lum.
The day of I was terrified, Albert had a «good day» and I started to doubt my decision. When Dr. Lum arrived he preformed a relatively quick examination and gave me some solid medical terms to grab onto and assure myself that this was the right thing for my dog. Through out the whole, short, process Dr. Lum’s bedside manner was perfect, he said and did everything exactly right for me and Albert, we gave him a final cookie, and after the first shot Albert fell into the deepest happiest sleep he has had in years, he snored so loudly and contently all the way until the end. Short of Dr. Lum telling me my dog was going to live forever this was perfect.
I miss my dog more than any words can express but I am eternally grateful that the last memories I have of my best friend were so peaceful and wonderful, thank you so much.

Not a great experience. Wanted to establish a relationship with a doc that can make house calls for my aging dog and it was a flop for me. His manner was abrupt, and he kept pushing me to commit to performing some really expensive tests before he would even examine her. I wanted him to come, provide an exam, talk to me about symptoms I am witnessing with her declining health and help me understand what is happening with her and help me find ways to support and ease her discomfort. That’s not what happened. I think he was tired from a long day of house calls, which is understandable, but I just didn’t feel the empathy and connection I was hoping for…

My dog is no longer able to walk and I am no longer able to carry her. So, I needed a vet who makes house calls. Dr. Lum is a good fit for us – he is very knowledgeable, thorough, and has a wonderful bedside manner. Not only do I feel my Annie is in good hands, but I no longer have to worry how I am going to get her to the Vet with our mobility issues. But, even if we didn’t have that problem, Annie was so much more at ease than she ever was going to the Vet. Being in her home environment made a world of difference for both of us.

I cannot say enough good things about Dr. Lum. He has helped care for our cats for 6 years. He has always demonstrated strong knowledge and competency, and his genuine love of animals is apparent. He is incredibly patient in explaining procedures, answering questions and talking through options, which is so helpful when facing health decisions for pets. He’s been a true gift. Highly, highly recommend.

My cat was 20 years old and had reached end of life. I wanted his last experience to be in a happy and safe experience at home. Dr. Lum was able to visit within two days of my request. He was very warm and compassionate given the situation, explaining what he was doing, what to expect, and being there for me when I became emotional over the event.
I recommend him as both a professional and as a great human being.
Side note — In my conversation with Dr. Lum, he commented that most of his house calls consist of births and euthanasia, but mainly euthanasia — so how about it, let’s try to get him more of those births!

One year later (my previous review was dated 6÷30÷14) and we are still thrilled w/​Dr. Lum’s service. He is VERY thorough when explaining his findings and presents all of the options. His prescription service is on-​line, so you drop in a request, he approves and poof… it appears on your doorstep in a few days.

Short and sweet. Dr, Lum is awesome, I am thrilled to have found him. Native San Franciscan, super friendly yet all business, and very caring with our cats. Highly recommended.

Dr Lum was recommended to us by a friend. We needed a vet to come to the house to euthanize our sweet Canela who sadly had a terribly aggressive cancer. Dr Lum spoke with me over the telephone the day before. He was very kind and understanding, immediately putting me at ease. The day of our appointment he arrived and explained everything he would be doing to us. Dr Lum was very gentle with Canela and before we knew it our boy crossed the rainbow bridge without any discomfort or trauma whatsoever. We highly recommend SF Veterinary Housecalls. Thank you Dr Lum for your kind and professional care of our angel.

If I could give a hundred stars I would.
It’s been 6 months and it’s still difficult to write this but I’ve put it off long enough. I moved to SF last summer with my 6 year old lab mix Nova. She’s always been a country girl and was having trouble with the «city life» so I started to research Vet’s that make housecalls. I found Dr. Lum’s website and bookmarked it.
3 Weeks later I sent my furbaby to doggie daycare «perfectly healthy». That was the last time I saw her running around like her insane «typical lab» self. In just a matter of 2 days her health deteriorated and she was admitted to the animal ER. We found out she had cancer and it was everywhere. The hospital got her to the point where we could bring her back to her home and spoil her before we said goodbye. She was mostly just tired, still happy to eat and get love, and an occasional toy/​play session. But she was so weak that she couldn’t stand on her own and just wanted to rest.
No doctor wants to meet their new family and patient in that type of situation. I was 3,000 miles from our old «family» vet and in desperate need of someone to come to our home to help us say goodbye to our girl so she wouldn’t suffer. Dr. Lum was the perfect choice. He was so professional but also personal. We had a phone chat first and he collected the bulk of the information then which was helpful to make the goodbye process just that– a goodbye and not a paperwork peace-​out.
He came to our home, loved on our girl, and rid her of all of the pain and sickness that was about to come her way. The entire situation is heartbreaking but I’m happy I called Dr. Lum. I’m just sad that he never got to meet Nova when she was healthy. I would highly recommend this man. Call Dr. Lum if you’ve got a dog or cat that has trouble making the trip to the vets– be it anxiety, stress, aggression, etc. You won’t regret it!
I’ve read a few bad reviews about Dr. Lum saying things like «this was the worst experience ever.» 99% of those reviews are from families that met Dr. Lum because they were saying goodbye to their pet. YES, Putting my dog to sleep was the worst experience ever. But you can’t blame that on the person who squeezed you into his tight schedule, drove through SF traffic, dealt with parking, and then had to compose himself for another grieving family.

If I could give Dr. Lum 7 stars, I would. I’ve known Dr. Lum (Calvin) for many years, and knew that he was a compassionate and loving person. Little did I know the depth of his skill and compassion until my beloved cat of 18 years needed to be euthanized.
I don’t know how he manages to fit everyone into his schedule, but somehow when I called he made time to come and consult, giving us all of our options for treatment. We decided on euthanasia to spare our old and frail cat any additional suffering. Calvin was gentle and kind, helping us prepare for the procedure.
I think I was relatively business-​like the whole time. I worked in a veterinary practice in my youth, and I thought «I’ve got this — I know what to expect.» Of course, the minute our dear cat was deceased, I melted down. Calvin was respectful, compassionate, and said and did everything I needed in the moment.
I decided to write this review after reading the (VERY few) bad reviews here. Look at the overwhelming number of positive reviews and it’s clear that some people can’t separate their grief from a misdirected sense of anger.
I recommend Calvin Lum unconditionally and with the strongest conviction. He is THE BEST, without a doubt.

Dr Lum came to our house today to give our beautiful new cat her first ever vet appointment. He was kind, gentle, knowledgeable and really went above and beyond.
He gave us a specific line by line quote beforehand, came at short notice when we were worried, and gave us heaps of advice over the phone as well. He was extremely generous with his time, staying for much longer than expected because our cat was so difficult to manage.
Our cat recently adopted us — she was a stray who wandered into our house and decided we were hers. But she hadn’t had much time to get comfortable with vets or even other people besides me and my partner. So she gave Dr Lum and me a very hard time. I was really nervous, and Dr Lum managed to coach me through helping and handling her — he had two difficult patients on his hands today, and has amazing bed-​side manner with both cats and humans.
I recommend him very highly — he took a nervous owner and a very frightened, escape-​artist cat and managed to vaccinate, de-​worm, microchip and examine her. I feel so relieved, and our brave little cat came out from under the couch 20 minutes later for some petting.
Thank you from me and our cat!

I cannot say enough positive things about Dr Lum. My 14 year old dog was not doing well, and his usual vet (down in Mountain View) told me that there was nothing more that could be done. I wanted a vet to come to the house, so my sweet old pup could go to sleep permanently, in his own room, in his own bed. Unfortunately, our usual vet did not do house calls. I found Dr Lum on Unilocal,phoned him, and he seemed caring, knowledgeable, and extremely professional. We talked on the phone for about 30 minutes, going through my dog’s medical history. He agreed that there was no alternative. Dr Lum came to my home –respectfully and compassionately assisted my wonderful old man out of pain, and into the great beyond. I would highly recommend Dr Lum.

I found Dr. Lum two years ago online. His reviews online were great and they were all true. So I thought it was time I write one for him as well. The service he provides is gentle and clear and overall excellent. He is amazingly responsive by both phone and email. He has given me wonderful referrals for specialists and boarding for my cats as well as incidentals for care such as food and medicine. He is a wonderful care provider and resource and a wealth of knowledge. I recommend him to anyone and their pets.

As written by my partner… «Today I had my first in house vet visit for Our dogs. I don’t know about you but making an apt with the vet, schlepping, waiting, schlepping, is not my favorite thing to do.
Ben found Calvin Lum on Unilocal with great reviews, so I called, made an apt. he showed up today, was pleasant, had a brick and mortar place for twenty years and for the last 6 years has been doing in house calls.
When I called Arguello pet hospital (Lucy and Doris’s) usual vet, who I like, I ask them to transfer records, they said that they love him and he does a good job.
He inspected both doggies, gave me some advice for them, (lucy is a little overweight), shots, drops, etc.
Obviously I wouldn’t be writing this unless I was delighted with my experience.»

Dr. Lum has been our vet for several years now. Last week he had to come to our home to help our beloved Sugar cross to the Rainbow Bridge.
Dr. Lum was both professional and personal — the perfect balance. He shared our sorrow and did what needed to be done in the kindest and gentlest way. His compassion for us and for Sugar will never be forgotten.
Thank you Dr. Lum for helping our Sweet Brave Warrior to her 10^th life in such a peaceful and loving way.
With sincere gratitude,
Jeanette

We have euthanized many animals companions over the years, both in home and also a the vet. This was the WORST experience ever! It was very traumatic for my mother and I and even worse for poor Billy, my parents wonderful cat, suffered at the end of his life.
First, Dr. Lum was late. Very late. You might think that this would be a good thing, more time to say goodbye, but no. We were ready to say goodbye to Billy and we were left waiting, and wondering when he would be there.
When he gave Billy the shot, he cried out in paid and tried to run away. He struggled while Dr. Lum sat there awkwardly. It was awful! We have never, in all our years caring for animals and having them humanely euthanized, never seen something so terrible and careless. Dr. Lum tried to tell us this is normal. It’s is not. My mother ended up in tears because she was so upset by how he hurt Billy so much. It was an awful experience. In the end, my mom had to pay him a lot of money for what ended up being animal abuse. My mom still talks about how she regrets letting Dr. Lum into her house and anywhere near Billy.

I’d meant to write this update 2 years ago but was too sad. Now, being the anniversary of my sweet kitty Mr. B’s passing, I just want to ensure I give credit to a compassionate, wonderful vet.
When my vet-​phobic, timid guy was dying of renal failure, I knew it was time to let him go as painlessly as possible. There was a slight chance he’d make if sent to the hospital and hooked up on tubes, but I didn’t want his last days to be in a cold, sterile hospital where he’d be terrified and even so, having a miniscule chance of survival.
We made the arrangements and Dr. Lum came over. To the reviewer who wrote that they felt he was cold by taking care of payments in advance, I can understand their feelings but think it’s for the best. After your pet has gone, the last thing you want to do is whip out your credit card and handle business transactions. I would have been too broken up to deal with that.
Having him die in my arms at home was the most dignified humane thing I could do for him. Dr. Lum was very appropriate and kind, and said «rest in peace Mr. B.» For such a sad situation, I was very grateful for him and his services. He sent a sweet condolence card afterwards.

I had to post an update to reiterate what an amazing vet Dr. Lum is. He took such good care of both of my kitties for several years. Sadly, I lost both of my cats last year (one to old age, one to cancer). Dr. Lum made sure that their (and my) quality of life was as good as it could be for as long as they were here.
You should know that he is not only a knowledgeable and caring vet, he is an amazing human being. After each of my cats passed away last year, he sent me the most kind and heartfelt note. This is a vet that genuinely cares about his patients — both animal and human. It’s a wonderful trait, and I am so grateful to him for everything he did for us.

We haven’t had the pleasure of meeting Dr Lum in person yet, but thought he warranted a 5 star review just for his efforts on our behalf.
My girlfriend and I were extremely impressed that he made himself available to us in a crisis when our cat had end stage renal failure complications.
We are not patrons of veterinary clinics because they are too stressful for the pets.
He is very personable, and we are beyond grateful he quickly assessed the gravity of the situation (our cat started seizing) and he was willing to fit us in his very busy schedule.
His replies were prompt and we REALLY appreciated that at such a stressful time. Due to our cat starting to have cluster seizures, we obviously couldn’t wait until the next morning, but had to take her to 9^th ave emergency clinic (we would never go to corporate SFVS) to have her euthanized.
I will definitely consider calling him for house call visits for our other animals.

I have never had a cat vet house call before but being the busy, traveling for work person that I am, I thought I would give it a shot. I’m new to the Soma hood and hadn’t had time to schedule an appt with a vet. I had left messages at 2 other locations and didnt hear back.
When I called Dr Lum, he answered immediately and started giving me all this free medical advice for my cat over the phone. I liked that I didn’t have to get filtered through vms, answering services, techs or admins before getting an answer right away. He was able to give me an appt 2 days later and was super thorough in his examination. It was more comfortable for my kitty as he thought we were just receiving another house guest, which he enjoys.
I think it helps for a vet to see a pet in his home environment. I asked a lot more questions. I had all my paperwork and notes nearby. I thought my cat might have asthma as he was wheezing a lot without coughing up any hairballs so I wasn’t sure what was going on. To my relief, he checked out healthy and Dr Lum rewarded him with treats and extra loving care.
The value that Dr Lum brings to the visit and the genuine care and concern he shows about pets is very reassuring. The follow up after the visit has been really great too. I highly recommend Dr. Lum for your pet!