Meet Our Team

Putting Your Pets First

Get to know the McDonough Animal Hospital team.

We’re a vibrant and caring group dedicated to delivering top-tier veterinary care and forming meaningful connections with pets and their owners.

In addition to veterinary knowledge and training, our team is selected for kindness, compassion, patience, professionalism, integrity, and agility. We work harmoniously to ensure your pet’s well-being is at the forefront of everything we do.

Our Doctors

Dr. Ortiz

Dr. Erica Ortiz is a 1999 graduate of the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Erica began working at McDonough Animal Hospital in June 2005 and purchased the practice in March 2007.

Her particular interests are small animal surgery and dentistry. Dr. Erica enjoys caring for many different types of pets, including dogs, cats, rabbits, rats, guinea pigs, and hamsters.

Dr. Erica shares her home with her two children, and a menagerie of pets, including dogs, cats, rabbits, pot-bellied pigs, chickens, and multiple horses! When she is not working, she enjoys reading, horseback riding, and spending time with her kids.

Dr. Grillo

Dr. Marianna Grillo was born in a little town in Sicily called Salemi.

Inspired by her father’s dream to become a Vet, and surrounded by a wide variety of species, her love for animals began early in life. Her childhood was magically spent caring for many wonderful furry friends, from dogs and cats to goats, cows, pigs, and even ostriches and chameleons.

Dr. Grillo graduated from the University of Messina (Sicily, Italy) in 2012. Since then, she worked full-time as a freelance, visiting her patients in their homes and educating her customers on the best knowledge possible for their beloved pets. At the same time, she worked as a surgeon in a local clinic, lovingly taking care of a great range of emergencies as well as routine surgeries. Over the last ten years, her compassion for homeless dogs brought her to volunteer regularly at a local shelter to save from the streets many puppies, lonely dogs, and cats around Sicily.

Dr. Grillo’s favorite medicine quote is “Primum non nocere” in Latin, which means “First do no harm”. This is the reason for her deep interest in holistic medicine. In 2018 she attended the School of Low-Dose Medicine in Milan, which increased her passion for Homeopathy, Naturopathy, and all the non-invasive ways to cure without or with the least side effects possible.

In her free time, Dr. Grillo is also a yoga teacher and she loves to teach and practice this ancient discipline that helps her students and herself to refocus and reconnect. She is a very passionate music lover. She likes to listen to music, sing and play her harmonica and other instruments. She also enjoys the outdoors, hiking, biking, swimming, and diving are some of her favorite activities.

Some years ago Dr. Grillo met her husband Robert, an orchestral music composer from Louisiana. He shares her love and compassion for all sorts of animals, music, and nature. After spending a few months in the South, and falling in love with its food, culture, and people, they decided to move to the United States with their four kids and their two cats, Leo (the red Sicilian big boy) and Toby (the American black sweet boy).