Avian Medical Center

I got a call at work from the school nurse that my son was sobbing uncontrollably because his parakeet was unable to use one of his feet. My 11 year old son found this place online and begged me to take the bird in.
They were very kind and patiently explained to my son how to help heal his bird and after two weeks, the bird is using his foot again. Thank you so much!

I’ve been taking my parrots to Marli Lintner since 1993 and wouldn’t trade her expertise and common-​sense approach for *anything.* As a client I’m always respected and informed and as a person on a fixed income, given many treatment options to choose from whenever I raise budgetary concerns. Dr. Lintner has always been a pleasure to work with.
Over the years Avian Medical Center has provided annual wellness exams, boarding, travel documents and emergency care. The most extreme case was my poor TAG Olivia being attacked by my nesting Hyacinth Lilly about 8 months ago. It seemed a miracle Olivia made it to the office alive…
Lilly basically tried to crush Olivia’s head. She succeeded in separating the left side of Olivia’s beak from the skull, and causing a great deal of sinus damage. I really thought there was little to no hope for recovery.
Olivia had other ideas and the instant pain management Dr. Lintner initiated plus incubation and oxygen therapy allowed my girl to rest enough so that further measures could be pursued. She ended up being tube fed successfully and with rest, antibiotics and pain management she made amazingly fast gains toward recovery. She was in ICU for 12 days IIRC, and came home able to eat soft foods. Within the next two weeks she was able to eat hulled seeds and nuts as well, and progressed to cracking seeds on her own shortly thereafter. Best of all, she continues to be the sweet, cheerful, loving girl I’ve always known.
The thing about parrots is that when properly cared for their health is easy to maintain. I’ve been in the office for a routine visit and had to wait because some other person brought in their baby due to an emergency like Olivia’s. Accidents and emergencies can’t be scheduled; I never mind waiting for routine services when there is a person whose bird needs immediate attention. After 37 years of living with/​caring for my companion parrots I completely understand there may be occasions which demand rescheduling my appointment due to unforeseeable circumstances. Inconvenient? Sure. Something to whine about? Not so much.
The consistent level of excellent care my parrots and I have always received at the Avian Medical Center over the past 23 years can’t be found anywhere else in the Portland Metro area.

I just wanted to say that I love all the girls at AMC and appreciate Dr. Litner more than I can say. I have been seeing Dr. Litner for roughly 20 years now.
I want to comment on what Deb M had to say about them. I do understand that in the state of a loss or dire sickness of one’s beloved pet, people are not objective. I have now read two such posts from Deb M that bash two different Vet’s and I saw the other one as well but was just in once for a nail trim. They were very nice and cared very much even though it was just for a nail trim.
There may even be more Vet bashings Deb M has posted, but people don’t listen to her! She needs to become a Vet or stop owning animals! Better yet, Deb M get some counseling!

I have been going to Dr. Lintner for about 10 years. I have had excellent care for my Moluccan cockatoo. She has helped me with several issues regarding my boy eating something not digestible.
While I understand nobody likes to wait for an appointment I have been one of the people with a patient who refuses to poo so we can have a look under the microscope. I hate waiting around too but have come to understand that you just can’t force a bird. Lighten up folks.
I find her theory on medical care for my companion to be spot on. Nobody would say a dog who is licking his foot raw has a behavioral issue without looking at underlying medical causes. I have found no other avian vets who even bother to look. Every other vet has said behavioral and often not even touched the bird for an exam.
Thank you for taking good care of my boy.

My wife and I have four birds in our home: two doves and two parakeets. We’ve had a number of medical emergencies over the years and have learned to trust Dr. Lintner of the Avian Medical Center. This is the best place for bird care in the Portland area. At the time of this writing, I see that the Avian Medical Center gets 3 stars out of 5 and includes 3 very negative reviews. The ratings make me question the value and accuracy of a Unilocal rating more than question Dr. Lintner’s competency.
Dr. Lintner is a member of Association of Avian Vets and has been a speaker at their conferences. She was speaker of the year in 2014. The Tualatin Emergency Veterinary Hospital has her on call as a consultant for all avian emergencies. The Exotic Bird Rescue of Oregon lists her as one of the vets they use for their rescued birds.
There are very few vets specializing in bird care. Birds are dramatically different from mammals in the way their body works. There is an advantage to working with a vet that specializes in birds.
Some personal examples of Dr. Lintner’s expertise:
I brought my parakeet in to the Tualatin Emergency Veterinary Hospital because of breathing problems. They thought it was pneumonia and she was transferred to Dr. Lintner’s the next morning. Dr. Lintner found out that the problem was a mass growing above the heart and blocking the parakeet’s breathing. She said there was a chance that the problem was goiter and could be treated with iodized salt. She said that if that was the case, the cure would be rapid. My pet lucked out – a few days after the iodized salt treatment, her wheezing disappeared. She now gets a few grains of salt each week and her problem has not recurred.
The same parakeet tried to lay an egg and wound up with an inverted uterus (ouch!). Dr. Lintner performed emergency surgery (parts of the uterus die when inverted). My pet was doing well in a few days and has been normal since. I should add that Dr. Lintner came in that day suffering from an injured arm and feeling sick from a reaction to some pain medication she had taken and she put in a full day.
My wife took in her dove to another vet when Dr. Lintner was on vacation. The vet diagnosed a bunch of weird ailments, handled the bird too much (injuring his foot) and decided that the bird was old and would die. We took the bird home and cared for him on our own until Dr. Lintner came back. From a dropping, she diagnosed that the bird’s food had mold. we changed the food and the dove got better – and is still alive, several years later (he’s now around 32 years old!).
The other dove, a female, has had quite a few problems. It’s a long story (mostly reproductive issues), but the dove is still around and kicking many years after we thought she was a goner.
Dr. Lintner’s office is always busy. There’s no way so many people would bring their birds to Dr. Lintner (and continue bringing in their birds) if she didn’t provide good care. She’s the best. When she retires, bird owners in the Portland area are going to have a big problem.

I’ve actually had a some really good experiences with Doctor Litner and the staff at Avian Medical Center. I’ve been in twice with my 5 year old African grey baby and he really likes the doctor and by following her instructions, he’s gained most of his feathers back (he was a feather picker). She really does know her stuff about birds’ behavior and health. The pricing is also a plus. When I lived in Southern California, I took my African grey to The bird clinic, and ended up paying 800 dollars for a check up and some tests. Dr. Litner’s prices are pretty reasonable & she’s the only exclusive bird vet in the area.

I don’t know why my previous review dated over a year ago has been removed but I have something to add to it anyway.
About a year or so ago I brought in my sweet hen because her crop had filled with liquid. Dr. Lintner barely looked at her when she shook her head grimly side to side and told me she could do an exploratory surgery to find out what’s wrong but it wasn’t looking good. This was all new to me, I’d never had chickens before, and I had been told she was THE chicken vet in the area so I agreed. I asked her to please drain the liquid from her crop so she could get a good night’s sleep before surgery the next day. She couldn’t sleep because every time her head went down she nearly choked on the rotten liquid in her crop. (I have since found out that Monistat, the same drug for women’s yeast infections, clears up sour crop in mere days.) Dr Lintner did not drain her crop as promised.
The next day before surgery I went in to see my sweet girl. I saw how exhausted she was. She could barely keep her head up. I held it up for her so she could get at least a few minutes of sleep. I was livid at the doctor but held it in because surgery was about to start and I believed that my girl would not survive without it. Of course she died in surgery. I have since found out, from other vets, that Dr Lintner doesn’t know chickens, she only knows parrots. I found this out when my sweet girl’s sister needed help recently.
I went to THREE different vets in the Portland area looking for a good chicken vet. Two said they couldn’t help her, one AFTER seeing her and one actually said it BEFORE she even saw her. I thought that was suspicious. The common denominator? Dr. Lintner. The one who was admittedly inexperienced had called her to find out what to do. She must’ve had quite a bit to say about me, a previous client who had the nerve to criticize her, because he wouldn’t even talk to me afterward. He told an assistant to tell me he couldn’t help me. And an appointment I had already made with another vet, trying to cover all my bases, called me to say she couldn’t help me and cancelled the appointment! The same day. I think it’s pretty obvious what went on. And I think it’s repulsive.
Dr Lintner suffers from grandiosity. She «thinks» she’s a good bird vet but in fact she’s clueless. That’s bad enough but to go out of your way to deny treatment to another innocent bird is unconscionable in my view. SHAME ON YOU DR. LINTNER! YOU ARE HURTING INNOCENT BEINGS. YOU SHOULD LOSE YOUR LICENSE. I DIDN’T COMPLAIN TO THE BOARD BEFORE BUT I WILL NOW.
People, you have been warned. And if anyone knows of a REALLY good, CARING chicken vet, please let me know. My girl is still in trouble. Thanks.

I’ve been taking my doves and parakeets to Dr. Lintner since 2008 and have been nothing but pleased with her expertise. Her charges are very reasonable and she won’t prescribe medications or procedures unless they are absolutely necessary. After having bad experiences with two different veterinarians, I was so relieved to find her and her staff.
After monitoring a condition on my 6-​year-​old dove Lily for a couple of years in order to avoid surgery as long as possible, the doctor finally had to perform major abdominal surgery on Lily and it was a great success. My dove would have died without it. Instead, she is thriving, almost a year as her surgery.
Dr. Lintner also showed incredible skill and good sense when my 31-​year-​old dove Mir got cancer. She was able to keep him comfortable for some months and showed nothing but compassion when we decided it was time to put him to sleep because he had stopped eating and drinking.
She is incredibly knowledgeable about parakeets as well. She takes the time to explain what is going on and what we need to do to maintain the health of our birds. When our parakeet Shadow developed pneumonia, she identified it and provided us with medication that would minimize the chance of injury and trauma for our bird.
I highly recommend her to anyone who loves his/​her birds.

I recently visited the Avian Medical Center as a new patient after moving and having to leave our old, much-​beloved vet of 10 years. I wasn’t impressed. I did think that the staff was nice and the building was clean.
However, the doctor was over 30 minutes late for our appointment, and ours was the first appointment of the afternoon, so she didn’t have any patients before us. She just simply showed up at the office 30 min late. When she saw my conure, she told me that she «didn’t believe» in most scientifically-​accepted tenants of avian medicine, such as the prevalence of psittacosis, behavioral/​environmental causes for feather picking, or the need to avoid an all seed diet. A quick search of the veterinary research literature demonstrates that while yes, these are controversial topics, there is little to no research to support her beliefs.
She told me that parrots feed pelleted diets do not live as long as parrots on all seed diets, and that my parrot, who has been successfully behaviorally-​treated for feather picking (i’m a behavior analyst), did not have a behavioral cause for feather picking because there was no such thing, so he must have ulcers. She then used a clipper (not a dremel) to clip his nails too short (which made him bleed) and sent us on our way.
Even though her views are not typically supported by science, I figured there’s always a possibility that’s she’s correct. After all, you never know. However, I felt that there was probably a more productive way for her to present her perspective than by being condescending and belittling our treatment of our parrots for the past 10 years. It definitely made me miss my old vet and realize how hard good, compassionate avian vets are to come by!

As much as I appreciate this veterinarian’s expertise, I can’t help but feel completely ripped off in this situation.
I had been seeing another vet about my very sick older bird. That vet wanted to move ahead with x-​rays, but the price and possible necessity to send them out for results made me call the Avian Medical Center for a quote. I talked to Kelly and asked how much their x-​rays were and if it was possible to have my bird seen for them even though I’m seeing another vet for everything else. She said that was possible and the x-​ray quote was lower than my other vet’s, so I went ahead with scheduling an appointment. She then quoted me for an exam. I said that I didn’t want/​need an exam since that was recently done by my other vet and that I just wanted the x-​rays. In addition to the added cost, I also didn’t want to subject my poor ill bird to more tests that were already done. So, she asked if I could have the other vet’s records sent over, which I did.
The day of the appointment, I brought in my bird and another staff member, Megan, mentioned an exam and a fecal exam. I told her that, as I said when scheduling, I didn’t want any additional exams and that I was just here for an x-​ray.
Then, when it was time to pay for my bill, sure enough, they were trying to charge me for an emergency exam, a fecal exam, and a urinalysis. That on top of an unapproved injection almost doubled what I planned to pay for the x-​ray. Kelly was the staff member at the counter that day, and I managed to get them to remove the fecal exam and urinalysis. They said that it was because «they didn’t ask me». I did agree to pay for the injection. However, they refused to remove the emergency exam since apparently it’s required before x-​rays. Kelly even went so far as to say that they are required to do it by law. I let her know that no one informed me that this very expensive exam was required or I would have obviously just gone to my other vet for the x-​rays. Still no luck. So, unfortunately, I paid for it since I just wanted to get my bird back and take him home.
Afterward, though, I just kept getting more and more angry about the situation. It seriously left a really bad taste in my mouth for this business.
Then, a few days later, I noticed the label on the prescribed medication that said it needed to be refrigerated. Kelly and Tamara were the ones giving me the medication instructions and even marked on the syringe so I would know how much medication to administer. Unfortunately, neither of them mentioned that the medication needed to be refrigerated. This was upsetting because my other vet and his staff are always very detailed with medication instructions. I was also a bit upset with myself, of course, because I was too preoccupied with the new diet for my bird that I only listened to the staff and read the printout instead of reading the entire bottle.
So, I thought this was a great opportunity for the vet to make me feel better about them since I had to go in to get a new bottle of medication. I planned to talk to the veterinarian directly about the previous invoice.
The veterinarian was very adamant about the exam prior to the x-​rays and stated that she already gave me a bunch of other free services (meaning the fecal exam and urinalysis that I explicitly declined and refused to pay for). I told her, many times, that I wasn’t informed about the required exam. She then proceeded to tell me that Kelly took a lot of notes because I «was very difficult on the phone» and her notes said that I was informed about the required exam. Firstly, I definitely wasn’t informed. If I was, I would have gone to my other vet for the x-​rays. And anyone who knows me would never describe me as «difficult». If honest and straightforward about what I want is «difficult», then yes, I am difficult. I even told the veterinarian what I was quoted for an x-​ray and she said that x-​rays are a different amount, so that couldn’t have happened. I then showed her the invoice, which showed the original quoted amount for the x-​ray. She didn’t even know what it was! She then scoffed at us and said, «I can’t believe you two right now!» She acted like arguing with her about this issue and not being blindly willing to pay for a bunch of added-​on services meant I didn’t care about my bird. So, she still adamantly refused to refund the exam fee. She did send us home with the new medication without payment, but said that if we took her to court, she would come after us for the cost of that medication. She finished by telling me I should just go back to my other vet.
Clearly, there is a HUGE level of miscommunication in this office and, unfortunately, it seems that it’s the clients who suffer because they refuse to make it right and treat you like an inadequate bird owner when you call them out. No business should operate this way and I will not be returning.

We take our bird here all the time for check-​ups and boarding. The people are all bird lovers and take very good care of her. Very clean, friendly and secure. I would call ahead of time if you are planning a vacation and need a place to board. Birdy Camp is popular and it does fill up.