our staff

Veterinarian and Business Owner

Dr. Karner graduated with a BS in Animal Bioscience from Penn State University in 1994. She earned her Veterinary Medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1998. She has been living and practicing in the Butler area since graduation. Her career started as an equine veterinarian but transitioned to companion animals in order to fulfill her strong interest in soft tissue surgery. She also served as Medical Director of the Vet Tech Institute in Pittsburgh for 6 years. She opened Muddy Creek Animal Clinic in 2015 and purchased Suburban Animal Clinic in 2022. She lives in Butler with her husband, 4 children and 4 dogs. They live on a small farm where they raise and show Boer goats. They also raise Hereford cattle, honey bees, chickens and a variety of fruits.

Veterinarian

Dr. Lauren Firestine is a Pittsburgh native who recently moved back to Butler, PA to be of service for her community and be close to family. She attended The University of Findlay in Ohio for undergraduate studies where she fell in love with food animal medicine. She continued on to Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine; and completed her clinical year at THE Ohio State University.

Dr. Firestine enjoys connecting with her clients and being able to be an advocate for the creatures who don’t have a voice. She loves to say “Animals talk, you just have to listen the right way”. 

In her free time, Dr. Firestine loves to play golf to honor her late father. You can also catch her watching hockey, or spending time with her husband and 6 dogs at home; Duke, Zeke, Milkshake, Jim, Brooks and Chloe

As of October 2025, Dr. Firestine has also welcomed her son Elliot to the family!

Dr. Firestine lost both her father and her son, Owen in 2023. These are both two main driving forces for her output of empathy and work ethic to maintain the human - animal bond. 

The animals she will see for appointments include cats, dogs and food animals. 

Dr. Abigail Davidson graduated from Ross University on the island of St. Kitts in the Southern Caribbean in 2016. She has had the opportunity to travel and practice Veterinary Medicine all around the world including Hawaii Pacific University where she began her studies in Marine Biology, Costa Rica and Nicaragua, and completed her final clinical year at the University College Dublin, Ireland. Travel has provided many of Dr. Davidson’s inspirations which she feels has been an invaluable asset to experience different cultures and areas of learning. Her interests include surgery, analgesia, conventional medicine and providing the best experience and opportunity possible for her patients and clients. She lives with her island dog, Stella, her island cat, Melody and the cutest little neurologic rescue cat, Ziggy. She is very happy to be back here working with us at both Suburban Animal Clinic and our sister location, Muddy Creek Animal Clinic where animals she evaluates are mostly dogs and cats but also rabbits, guinea pigs, chickens and rodents and continues to learn more. In her free time she still enjoys traveling, hanging out with her friends, boyfriend in Tennessee and when relaxing we have learned she is an excellent writer of poetry and short stories!

CVT - Head Technician

Allison is one of the team members that helped start this clinic to get up and running. She has always had a love for animals of all shapes and sizes. She has six years of experience in general practice, graduating from The Vet Tech Institute in 2020 and becoming Certified in June of 2025. She's our go to girl when it comes to running the clinic as smoothly as possible from running anesthesia on our patients of all kinds, to providing tech support and performing tasks of all sizes. She shares her home withher boyfriend Adam, her 2 Green Cheek Conures Fizz and Eevee and her outside cat. In her free time she enjoys reading, kayaking, bowling and spending time with family and friends.

Receptionist

Nancy is our receptionist that makes up our team. She is the mother of three beautiful daughters and Nana to seven amazing grandchildren. 

She is also the pet mom of four dogs, Mac, Opal, Scarlett and Stella, turtles Sheldon and Lenard, a red footed tortoise named Valentine, two bearded dragons named Kaida, Pirate and two guinea pigs named Marvin and Carl, in addition to her hermit crabs and fish. She has been an animal lover from an early age. 

You name it, she probably had it to include dogs, cats, horses etc. She was involved in 4H and FFA in High School and even spent a year as a rodeo queen. She has enjoyed a diverse range of employment ranging from Hairdresser, Dog Groomer, in-home caregiver and even worked at a bakery. She enjoys gardening, crotching, kayaking and nature walks and various other hobbies. She has always had an interest in the Veterinary Field and helping animals in need. So she's joined the team to make a difference in animal care!

Veterinary Technician

Emily is one of our technicians that make up the team. She has always had a love and passion for caring for animals of all shapes and sizes.

She first began her career at the local Humane Society after graduating from The Vet Tech Institute in 2021. She has a feline friend at home named Snuggles who gave everyone at the shelter a run for their money with his spunky attitude. She is great with kitties of all spice levels. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with family, exploring new places, doing puzzles and reading new books.

Lacy is our newest Fear Free Certified technician addition to the team. She has always had an affinity for rescue animals. From starting out in shelter medicine at Animal Friends and adopting her first feline friend Leonard to adopting a secondary kitty named Lucy that had a previous life as a clinic cat. She has a whopping 10 years plus of experience in veterinary medicine, graduating from The Vet Tech Institute in 2011. She wrangles cats with attitudes with ease. In her free time, she enjoys spending time outdoors doing excursions such as hiking, kayaking and even horseback riding.