Even a pretty dumb dog realizes when it is at the vet. On stepping through the door, a few sniffs is all it takes - even at a vet where the dog has never been, the odor says "Wrong place! Run!". I imagine this is a combination of the mixed fear scents of many dogs - perhaps with an odor of sick dogs mixed in.
This odor melange should be brewed up and put in long acting pellets. The pellets could then be strewn around gardens etc to repel vagrant dogs.
I am not sure if the same principle would work for cats as I don't know if cats get scared at the vet. If so, this would probably be an even more popular anti-cat product, as there are more vagrant cats around than dogs.-- bungston, Jun 22 2003 My vet has a cat which sits on the counter, observing dogs. It is not repelled by anything known to man. I suspect that cats cannot be repelled by anything that they do not first approve as "official cat icky."-- Dog Ed, Jun 22 2003 Harvey doesn't mind vets at all, but good idea none the less. (+).-- 8th of 7, Jun 22 2003 I would have thought that the smell of sweaty dogs, anxious cats, sulky parrots, constipated snakes, sleepy tortoises, randy hamsters and celibate bunnies was a nasal paradise to most of our canine friends.-- po, Jun 22 2003 ........"I don't know if cats get scared at the vet" ----yes, they most definitely do! And they are scared of the cat carrier and the car that gets them there. That's why we say "scaredy cats".-- TeaTotal, Jun 22 2003 This is a really good idea. I dont think it'd work so well where I live, as there are millions (literally) of vagrant dogs in my city and I don't think any of them have ever been taken to the vet. Maybe the smell of other dogs (even sick dogs ) will be something familiar to them, and even atractive.-- Pericles, Jun 22 2003 I wonder if that would work? Couldn't hurt though. +-- sartep, Jun 22 2003 I know I have never been abducted by aliens, because I have never woken up with my belly shaved and my head in a plastic cone.
My point is, it's not the smell, it's not the carry basket, it's the whole experience of being stuffed into a basket, carried away, manhandled and subjected to pain by a stranger in an unfamiliar environment that does it. Every step reinforces that you're-gonna-get-it feeling and builds on the tension.
Having said that, try borrowing a vet's white coat for a walk in the park (and hope you don't meet any unmuzzled, unleashed rottweilers).-- FloridaManatee, Jun 22 2003 Like it. And conversely, vets could install positive air pressure systems in their exam (vs. waiting) rooms, perhaps with an array of subtle eaus de happy pets on tap at the blower. Not only would this make for cleaner exam conditions, but finally entering the 'sanctuary' could relieve the stressed patient, whose own newly relaxed pheromones could then mix with the blower's and perhaps calm the waiting area a bit too.-- n-pearson, Jun 22 2003 [FM]: So _you're_ the one we haven't got to yet! (runs and gets shaver)-- Cedar Park, Jun 23 2003 Long before I met her, my wife had two dogs, a boxer and a GSD. The boxer absolutely *loved* going to the vet, while the shepherd hated it. Each dog well out-weighed my wife, who thus had immense fun dragging them to and from the vet. One would think that tying them together would produce one vet-neutral dog-pair, but apparently it was not quite that simple.-- angel, Jun 23 2003 Most of the cats I have known have been quite happy to go to the vets, up to and including the time when they went to get spayed. From this moment on, they hated it with a passion right from the moment the cat basket was taken out. Can't say I blame them.-- hazel, Jun 23 2003 //vets could install positive air pressure systems// Get it wrong and there will be some amusing puff balls wondering round. You can stick your cat to the wall too, a-la-balloon.-- silverstormer, Jun 23 2003 random, halfbakery