We believe you should expect the very best for your pet, and at Gruda Veterinary Hospital you can have confidence that your pet is receiving the highest quality compassionate veterinary care. Our doctors are highly trained and experienced, and pursue continuing education and advanced training far above the standard. We work together in a collaborative environment to ensure your pet receives the best expertise available. Gruda Veterinary Hospital’s veterinarians and staff truly care about you and your pet, and want you to have the best experience possible.
Dr. Gruda graduated from Colorado State University College of Veterinary Medicine in 1990. Dr Gruda was born and raised in Gallup, New Mexico. He attended New Mexico State University for his undergraduate studies from 1983 to 1986.
Immediately following graduation from CSU, he returned to Las Cruces. He practiced there until 1994, when he moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico. From 1994 he worked in Santa Fe as an associate veterinarian for a local veterinary practice before opening Gruda Veterinary Hospital in 2001.
Dr. Gruda lives south of Santa Fe with his wife, Treva, and their four boys. When he is not at work he spends most of his time with his boys, two dogs, and one cat. He enjoys the outdoors, including camping, boating, fishing, and golf.
Dr. Gruda enjoys practicing all kinds of veterinary medicine for cats, dogs, and other small animals. He also devotes a significant amount of time on the surgical aspects of the practice.
July 2021 – After 30+ years in the veterinary profession providing excellence in general practice and surgery, Dr. Gruda is steering his focus solely on surgery and oncologic conditions. Being a respected leader in the community, Dr. Gruda recognizes the need to offer his skill and expertise primarily in these areas of veterinary medicine for our community and the surrounding areas. Dr. Gruda understands the stress on a family when a pet is in need of specialize care. He will provide a personalized treatment plan, allowing you to give the best care for your canine and feline family members.
Dr. Freeman earned her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from the University of Florida in 1997. She has practiced small and large animal medicine as well as emergency/critical care in New Mexico and Arizona over the last couple decades.
She was afforded the opportunity to study Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture while on the flexible emergency schedule and received her certification in 2006 from the Chi Institute in Florida. Since then she has attended courses in Advanced tongue and pulse diagnosis as well as food therapy through the Chi Institute. She has also earned a Foundations of Herbalism certificate; a nine-month long intensive course in Western Herbs taught by Milagro School of Herbal Medicine. In addition, she is a certified in veterinary chiropractic. Locally, she engages in a stimulating combination of Eastern and Western practice at Gruda Veterinary Hospital.
She is very interested in internal medicine, pain management, preventative medicine and food therapy using Traditional Chinese Medicine and Western Herbalism techniques.
When not practicing veterinary medicine she is hiking, learning crossfit, traveling or making medicine with her sweet puppy Grace.
Dr. Lesley Gonzales graduated from Colorado State University College of Veterinary Medicine in 2013 after attending New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in Socorro for her undergraduate studies. While she grew up in several states including Colorado and Alaska, Dr. Gonzales fell in love with New Mexico after attending NMT where she met her husband, a local rancher.
Dr. Gonzales is particularly focused on all aspects of surgery and endoscopy, as well as the challenging internal medicine cases. She is Fear Free Certified and a member of the American Association of Feline Practitioners but loves taking care of all patients coming into the hospital including rabbits, ferrets, and the occasional goat. She enjoys getting to know the people bringing in their critters and strives to provide personalized, quality veterinary care for each and every animal she meets.
Lesley lives outside of Santa Fe with her husband and their varied gang of dogs and cats. During her free time, she enjoys spending time with her husband and pets, reading, and hiking and backpacking. She has been with Gruda Veterinary Hospital since graduating veterinary school and looks forward to continuing a long career with Gruda.
Dr. Brown grew up on a small ranch in Taos, New Mexico. She graduated
from Colorado State University College of Veterinary Medicine in 2015
after attending Morehead State University in Kentucky for her
undergraduate degree.
from Colorado State University College of Veterinary Medicine in 2015
after attending Morehead State University in Kentucky for her
undergraduate degree.
Dr. Brown has a strong career focus on urgent care, surgery, and
endoscopy. She loves to take on the challenging cases and takes pride
in her attention to detail. It is very important to her that the
clients understand what is going on with their pets and that they know
all of the options available to treat them.
Dr. Brown lives between Albuquerque and Santa Fe on a small ranch with
her husband. They have horses, rabbits, dogs, and cats. She is an
outdoors enthusiast. When she is not working, you can usually find her
training her horses or riding her bike up in the mountains. Dr. Brown
is very grateful that her path brought her to Gruda Veterinary
Hospital and is looking forward to a long career here.
Dr. McGregor recently graduated from Oregon State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine after receiving her Bachelor’s degree from Pacific University. Her interests in veterinary medicine are surgery, acupuncture, cardiology, and preventive health. She studied acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine through the Chi Institute in Florida. Although primarily focused on dogs and cats, she will always be fond of pet chickens and goats.
Dr. McGregor grew up in the Bay Area of California and spent several years in Oregon before moving to New Mexico. As a recent transplant, she is excited to explore all that Santa Fe and Albuquerque have to offer. When she is not working, you can find her relaxing at home with her husband and two small dogs, hiking, doing hot yoga, or at a local brewery.
Dr. Dalton graduated from Colorado State University after completing her undergraduate studies at the University of New Mexico. Her interest in becoming a veterinarian was sparked at a young age as she grew up surrounded by the many animals her family kept. She has always been particularly interested in the relationship people and animals share.
Born and raised outside of Santa Fe, Dr. Dalton was eager to return to her hometown to serve the local community. Her professional interests include surgery, preventative care and pain management, with an emphasis on the human-animal bond. During her free time, Dr. Dalton enjoys spending time with family and friends, being in the mountains and DIY home renovations.
Dr. Dezendorf was born and raised in Homosassa, Florida. She graduated from LSU after completing her undergraduate studies at University of Florida and Northwestern State. Dr. Dezendorf moved to New Mexico in 2019 with her husband, Joey and her son, Ely. Her fur family consists of three dogs: Daisy, Francis and Twitch, and one cat, Gus. In her free time, she really enjoys reading and hiking. A fun fact about Dr. Dezendorf is she used to work as an assistant archaeologist for the city of St. Augustine! While Dr. Dezendorf is also a Certified Canine Rehab Therapist, her main interests in veterinary medicine are internal medicine, geriatric wellness and dermatology.
Dr. Fenlon graduated from Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine upon completing her undergraduate studies at Virginia Tech. She was born and grew up in the Washington D.C. area. After graduating veterinary school, she practiced in Florida and Illinois before deciding to move to Santa Fe, New Mexico in 2021.
Dr. Fenlon’s particular areas of interest as a veterinarian include internal medicine and preventative care medicine but she enjoys the diversity of cases one sees as a general practitioner. Outside of work, she likes to spend her time traveling, volunteering at the Food Depot, and exploring the hiking trails around Santa Fe.
Dr. Chelsy Obrer is an Associate Veterinarian at Gruda Veterinary Hospital. Dr. Obrer received her Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences from Florida International University in 2018 and went on to receive her Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine from the University of Missouri in 2022.
Dr. Obrer has a particular interest in exotic animal medicine and surgery, and is experienced in treating a wide variety of small mammal, reptile, and avian species. She is a member of the Association of Exotic Mammal Veterinarians.
Dr. Obrer is a proud Cuban-American born and raised in Miami, Florida. She recently moved to Santa Fe with her husband Ivan, two cats, and two rabbits. In her free time outside of work, Dr. Obrer enjoys competitive powerlifting, hiking, video games, and board games.
Originally born and raised in Santa Fe, Dr. Natasha Stanke has returned to share her surgical expertise with her home community. Dr. Stanke had her sights set on veterinary medicine since the age of ten with her first experiences with veterinary medicine observing at local clinics. Her first jobs as a veterinary assistant were at the Santa Fe Emergency Clinic and Gruda Veterinary Hospital. After graduating from Santa Fe High School, Dr. Stanke studied undergraduate Biology (with a minor in scuba diving) and attended veterinary school at the University of California, Davis. Following graduation, she set out to gain advanced training in surgery with a one-year general internship at Angell Animal Medical Center in Boston, MA, a one-year surgical internship at the Veterinary Specialty Hospital in San Diego, CA, and a three-year residency at BluePearl Veterinary Partners in Tampa, FL. Dr. Stanke has been board-certified in small animal veterinary surgery since 2015. As a surgeon Dr. Stanke has practiced in many hospitals across the country.
In 2020, at a time of wide-spread uncertainty, Dr. Stanke returned home with three goals: live closer to her family, use her professional talents to help the community, and to fly hot air balloons. She has certainly attained her goals by strengthening family bonds, performing hundreds of surgeries to help the animals of New Mexico and surrounding areas, and becoming a world-ranked competition hot-air balloon pilot, earning US Open Nationals 2023 Rookie of the Year and a second-place finish at US Women’s Nationals 2023. We are so happy to welcome Dr. Stanke back to Gruda Veterinary Hospital to continue her mission of providing high-quality surgery to the community.