Meet the Staff of the Grand Rapids Veterinary Clinic

Dr. Heather Krueger

Dr. Erika Butler
Erika Butler, DVM grew up in Grand Forks, North Dakota where her passion for animals, wildlife, and the outdoors became apparent at an early age. She graduated from the University of North Dakota in 2002, with a bachelor's of science in wildlife and fisheries management. Following her advisor’s encouragement, she applied and was accepted to the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine. Erika took a non-traditional path in her schooling and early career. She focused her veterinary education on wildlife population health and disease detection, surveillance, and management. Following graduation in 2006, Erika worked as the state wildlife veterinarian for both the North Dakota Game and Fish Department and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (MN DNR), which provided amazing opportunities to handle a wide array of free-ranging wildlife and participate in ground breaking wildlife disease research. Some of her favorite experiences included collaring moose, caribou, bighorn sheep, deer, and wolves and serving as the primary investigator for the MN DNR’s Moose Mortality Project. In 2014 Erika accepted a veterinarian position at Nor-West Animal Clinic in Fort Frances, Ontario, which is her husband’s, Pete, hometown. There she treated both large and small animals. She also worked with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources to help translocate a Lake Superior island population of endangered woodland caribou and assisted them with various wildlife rehabilitation cases. In 2020 Erika and Pete began considering a move back to Minnesota. The lakes and forests surrounding Grand Rapids, coupled with its proximity to their families, sealed the deal for them and Erika joined the Grand Rapids Veterinary Hospital in June of 2020. Erika’s professional interests include infectious diseases and promoting ethical and responsible breeding practices (such as breed appropriate health testing) and she is currently in the process of becoming certified to do PennHip testing. She and Pete are passionate fishermen (both hard and open water) and enjoy bird hunting. They spend much of their free time chasing fins and feathers and can often be found camping on islands on Rainy Lake and lakes north of Grand Rapids. Erika is also a “rock hound” and it is not unusual for her to have a pocket (or trunk) full of rocks or fossils. Their three dogs, Lindy, Lota, and Keeper, join them on nearly every adventure (they even sleep in their own tent!), while their two cats, Winnie and Piglet, patrol the house.

Dr. Madison McGonigal
Dr. Madison McGonigal is originally from Pittsburgh, PA, and moved to northern Minnesota in 2021. She received her DVM from Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine in St. Kitts. Currently, she has a small zoo at her home, which includes two dogs, two rabbits, a hamster, a chinchilla, a crested gecko, a leopard gecko, and four ducks. Her favorite aspect of veterinary medicine is performing surgery. Outside of work, she enjoys reading, traveling, and spending time with her family.