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Southpaw News

Jan 11

Happy New Year, and we hope that you all enjoyed the holiday season! We’re back at it (well, we never really stop!), and can’t wait to see our returning friends and new patients in 2023.

To kick things off, we wanted to share our feature article in the Fall 2022 edition of “Patterson Today,” an industry-focused magazine published by Patterson Veterinary! You can see the entire cover story at this link, with the Southpaw Vet feature — with a focus on the one and only Dr. Yonas — on page 26.

Plus, you can see a video interview with Dr. Yonas explaining what sparked an interest in becoming a veterinarian at this link (look on the carousel!).

Here’s a preview of the feature article, which you can read in its entirety by clicking here.

You Are Pawfect - The Left-Handed Vet Doing Everything Right

If baseball trivia happens to be your thing, you’ll instantly recognize the names Sandy Koufax, Steve Carlton, Randy Johnson and Clayton Kershaw – and know what they have in common. All are Hall of Fame “southpaws,” baseball slang for a pitcher who throws with their left hand.

Dr. Joshua Yonas may not be a major league ballplayer, but he is most certainly a major league veterinarian, who happens to also be a southpaw. It’s a distinction that he wears proudly and is the namesake of his dazzling facility, Southpaw Vet, located in the Mission Valley neighborhood of San Diego.

Clients entering the space are greeted by a mosaic tile floor mural with the scripted words, “YOU ARE PAWFECT.” There’s also a wall display of artist-designed gift items available for purchase, a larger-than-life fiddle-leaf fig tree, and banquette style bench seating that’s clad in leather and topped with branded throw pillows. Then there’s the marble front desk with two large treat jars, which is confirmation that you are truly at a veterinary practice rather than a cozy neighborhood barbershop in the coolest part of town.

L-O-L-A, Lola

Ready for more trivia? What do Brad Pitt, Jessica Biel, Adam Sandler, John Legend and Gloria Estefan have in common? (Hint: they all have the same dog breed made famous by Winston Churchill.) If you answered English bulldog owners, you are correct! Well, add Joshua Yonas to that list. In fact, his adopted bulldog Lola was the spark that ignited his interest in veterinary medicine.

“I was 23 years old and didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life,” he recalls. “After adopting Lola, I went to the vet and said ‘Here’s my puppy. I need vaccines.’ Watching the interaction between the vet and my dog helped me find my calling.”

“Next thing, I’m working at that vet’s practice as a kennel tech. Soon after, I applied to vet school with the goal of providing Lola with the absolute best care possible throughout her whole life. We lost Lola before we opened this clinic, but we will never lose the idea of providing every single one of our patients the same level of attention and care that I would provide Lola.”

Not surprisingly, the Southpaw Vet branding is Lola-inspired, and the distinctive bulldog motif is everywhere and as Yonas says, “the backbone of our aesthetic.” Yonas attributes the creation and implementation of that aesthetic to his business-partner-husband and professional graphic designer Matt Worthey, who is also the Southpaw Vet practice manager.

“I’m the medicine and Matt is the vision,” explains Yonas. “Matt has a phenomenal eye for design that combines an amazing aesthetic vibe with functionality. He wanted to make sure that when you walked in, you didn’t feel like you were at the vet. He didn’t want it to be an uncomfortable, sterile environment – rather, something where if he were a client, he would walk in and feel comfortable.”