Peninsula Pet Emergency celebrates one-year anniversary

Published 1:30 am Tuesday, July 7, 2026

SEQUIM — The North Olympic Peninsula’s lone overnight pet emergency hospital recently celebrated its one-year anniversary.

Peninsula Pet Emergency opened June 6, 2025. In its first year, 1,200 patients — all dogs and cats — have been seen by Dr. Amanda Mason, the founder of the hospital.

“I graduated from veterinary school in 2020 and moved to Washington at that time and my first job was at an ER in Poulsbo,” Mason said. “I worked at hospitals as an association and relief vet all over Western Washington and had started to hear about the overall lack of ability and the issues people have with logistics and finances of getting over to Poulsbo when I lived there.”

Mason’s work as a relief veterinarian brought her to the North Olympic Peninsula.

“That’s when I realized the lack of emergency services there were on the Peninsula and how far people would have to travel for care,” she said.

Although Mason said she never planned on opening her own animal hospital, she was approached by the Pet Emergency Group in 2023.

“I met with the leader of that organization and she talked to me about whether I would consider opening a hospital, what that would look like,” Mason said. “She had a lot of data about the number of pets here, what’s available, what services are needed.”

Mason met frequently with the Pet Emergency Group and networked with people in the community as she tried to figure out a creative way to make an animal hospital work on the Peninsula, she said.

One connection Mason made was with Dr. Linda Allen of Pacific Northwest Veterinary Hospital, 289 W. Bell St. in Sequim. Through that connection, Peninsula Pet Emergency found its home.

“Dr. Allen rents the space and equipment to me to use overnights on the weekend,” Mason said. “So it’s a creative option of co-opting an existing hospital. It’s made it more possible to open and made my services more accessible by helping to keep costs low.”

Peninsula Pet Emergency is open from 6 p.m. to 8 a.m. Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. If you’re bringing a pet in, it’s advised to call 360-207-4773 to inform staff so they can be ready for the pet’s arrival.

For more information about available services as well as payment options, go to www.peninsulapetemergency.com.

When the animal hospital first opened, Mason wasn’t expecting much business, she said.

Her expectation was incorrect.

“Initially, I was a little overwhelmed,” Mason said. “Our first summer was super busy, and as we’ve continued, we’re much steadier. I think more people know about us so it’s not as big of a surprise when we have busier weekends.”

In addition to being taken by surprise with the number of patients, Mason wasn’t yet living in Clallam County. She and her husband, veterinary assistant Nick Mason, were living in Silverdale until this past February. They commuted to Sequim on Fridays for the weekend and then head back to Silverdale on Mondays, finding the lowest-cost ways to sleep, Mason said.

“(Moving to the Agnew area) has definitely changed how logistically possible it was for us to do this every weekend,” she said.

An average weekend at the hospital sees 20 patients while the busiest weekend Mason has seen had 37 patients come through.

“My vision for the hospital is to eventually be open seven nights a week and 24 hours a day during the weekend,” Mason said. “My goal is to make sure there’s always a vet on the Peninsula who can see pets at all times, whether that’s your regular vet when they’re open or if it’s here.”

The main barrier to Mason’s goal is staffing. She’ll need to find more veterinarians to join the team and then hire additional staff to support them. There is a shortage of veterinarians, especially on the Peninsula, Mason said.

“Doctors are pretty hard to find, especially when you want them to do overnights and emergencies,” she said.

Mason’s interest in working with animals began when she was a child, when she went with her mother to volunteer at animal shelters.

“The first time I’d ever seen a vet or knew what they did, I was helping with Hurricane Katrina disaster relief because I lived in Florida at the time,” Mason said. “They gave me a spot in that whole rescue effort, and that whole setting of being involved with a team trying to save as many animals as they could is what sparked it for me. From then forward, everything I did was centered around animals.”

Mason graduated from Texas A&M University in 2020.

“I knew that I wanted to move somewhere pretty when I was graduating from vet school. I knew I didn’t want to stay in Texas, didn’t want to stay in the South,” Mason said. “I was looking at places in the mountains. I took a chance on a random job posting for that ER in Poulsbo. I really liked the hospital and decided I’m going to do this, and when I got here in May 2020, I was incredibly surprised at how beautiful it actually could be.”

Starting her veterinarian career during the COVID-19 pandemic was tough, Mason said.

“I kind of got thrown into the fire there, but it gave me an accelerated learning process,” she said.

Mason first discovered the Olympic Peninsula through outdoor recreation as well as relief veterinary work.

“I just thought, ‘How do I end up here?’” she said. “It all worked out, and I got here a lot sooner than I expected.”

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Reporter Emily Hanson can be reached by email at emily.hanson@peninsuladailynews.com.