Harrison's Pellets

Anyone have any info about Harrison's giving vets kickbacks for pushing feeding 100% Harrison's pellets?

No, I haven't heard anything. That would be disappointing.

Well, I just found out directly from Harrison's the following:
"The Harrison's Bird Foods product line is a family of premium certified organic pet bird foods sold and distributed by licensed veterinarians. "

So veterinarians do have a monetary benefit from pushing Harrison's.

The bird stores and other places that are not vets that carry Harrison's has to buy if from a veterinary distributor.

No wonder vets push Harrison's.

Well my birds (in general) don't care for it.I wouldn't be surprised if this was the case.I'd rather see that "extra" revenue spent on quality than kick backs.

I don't have a problem with vets selling foods or recommending products they believe in. I do find it questionable if they are being required to have some kind of exclusivity agreement. It's kind of like M.D.s and prescription meds. I have to trust my M.D. to use professional judgment in what he chooses to prescribe because I know the drug reps are wining, dining, and tschotske-ing him within an inch of his life. But I don't think they can require him to prescribe only their meds and not those made by other companies and so forth.

You can still order directly from Harrison's online, so I'm skeptical that the stores and catalogs are ordering through veterinary suppliers. Can you provide a source for that? Or is this mixed up somehow with their HEALx - AVIx products, about which I am less than enthusiastic. But those can be ordered directly as well.

Harrison's foods sound great on paper, but my birds don't go for it either. They are USDA Organic and I think TOP is the only other pellet that is certified organic.

ScooterNScotty wrote:

I don't have a problem with vets selling foods or recommending products they believe in. I do find it questionable if they are being required to have some kind of exclusivity agreement. It's kind of like M.D.s and prescription meds. I have to trust my M.D. to use professional judgment in what he chooses to prescribe because I know the drug reps are wining, dining, and tschotske-ing him within an inch of his life. But I don't think they can require him to prescribe only their meds and not those made by other companies and so forth.

My OP was due to a recent buyer's vet telling her she must feed Harrison's exclusively or the bird will have health problems. . . and coincidentally that vet sells Harrison's.

ScooterNScotty wrote:

You can still order directly from Harrison's online, so I'm skeptical that the stores and catalogs are ordering through veterinary suppliers. Can you provide a source for that?

The source is an email directly from Harrison's to me:
"Some pet related businesses do carry this particular line and purchase it via either a resale relationship with their local veterinarian, from one of several veterinary distributorships that ship countrywide or from us at a retail rate."

....and that's the name of that tune......

I think i might call that vet and ask what leads him to make such a statment,is my choice of pellets harmful to my bird? Where might i find such evidence,who's research does he base this on.This tends to piss me off.My birds would starve before eating Harrisson's.

henpecked wrote:

I think i might call that vet and ask what leads him to make such a statment,is my choice of pellets harmful to my bird? Where might i find such evidence,who's research does he base this on.This tends to piss me off.My birds would starve before eating Harrisson's.

I am pissed beyond belief. I wean babies onto 2 different brands of pellets, sprouts, fresh fruits and veg, cooked mix, etc. very limited amount of seeds. You mean I've been killing myself daily for nothing when I can just toss in a handful of Harrison's pellets?
And this vet's the only certified avian vet in Arizona. . .
Sounds like she needs to make sure she can make her Porche payment, despite the economy.

Yeah i wish i knew what vet,there's at least 5 females listed in AZ.

patdbunny wrote:

ScooterNScotty wrote:

You can still order directly from Harrison's online, so I'm skeptical that the stores and catalogs are ordering through veterinary suppliers. Can you provide a source for that?

The source is an email directly from Harrison's to me:
"Some pet related businesses do carry this particular line and purchase it via either a resale relationship with their local veterinarian, from one of several veterinary distributorships that ship countrywide or from us at a retail rate."

Fascinating. Now I do find it on their website under where to buy. I wonder if this is a recent development. I still think the vet in question is even more at fault than Harrison's unless they somehow coerced him or her. That's unethical behavior IMO.

My vet sells Harrisons but pushes fresh foods.... go figure.

Mine sells both Harrison's and Roudybush but he suggested I feed Roudybush and gave me a huge bag of it. I think it's because Roudybush is cheaper so he figured I might be more inclined to buy it long term as opposed to Harrison's.