About Us

Kelly Rutkowski, MBA

Kelly is a Clemson University graduate where she earned both a BS in civil engineering and an MBA. She had a very successful career as a structural engineer designing marinas in the Caribbean as well as in Dubai, but left to follow her passion of helping animals, particularly chickens. She created the website PoultryDVM.com, and founded Adopt a Bird Network (ABN), a non-profit dedicated to promoting the presence of the forgotten birds (especially chickens) in animal shelters across the United States. She has appeared as a guest as a chicken-keeping expert on several highly-regarded podcasts, both poultry-related and non-poultry-related. She has an elderly horse named Cash and three flocks of rescued chickens.

Rebecca Gounaris, DVM

Dr. Rebecca L. Gounaris (Perelman) is a 2016 graduate of the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine and is a third generation small animal veterinarian practicing at her family's clinic, Pleasantville Animal Hospital, in Fallston, MD. She is passionate about backyard poultry medicine and strives to normalize veterinary care for pet poultry. She received training in avian medicine at Tri-State Bird Rescue and Research as well as externships at LSU and other exotic clinics during her clinical year. She adores caring for her own flock of chickens and believes it has taught her so much about how to care for her poultry clients and patients in addition to her experience in the clinic. She hopes to see more veterinarians start to practice with backyard poultry, as there is such a need. Dr. Gounaris lives in Airville, PA with her husband Brandon and her son Ezra. She has two Italian Greyhounds ("iggies"), Epi and Trig, and an always growing flock of spoiled backyard chickens.