Prince, an extremely friendly Rottweiler, has always loved going to the vet. His main goal in life is to meet as many people and animals as possible, and any place that allows him to do that is his favorite.
“He’s truly a softie at heart,” Linnay Pavlovich,
Prince’s mom, told The Dodo.
The pup is a pro at greeting the staff, exploring the clinic and sitting still for exams. The only part of going to the vet he’s not a fan of is anything involving needles.
Poor Prince is terrified of getting shots because of the needles, and his mom and the veterinary staff have been working with him to help overcome his fear. They were brainstorming ways to distract Prince while he gets his shots — and that’s when his mom mentioned his love of cats.
“Prince has always been fascinated by cats,” Pavlovich said. “Whenever we’d visit our local pet store, he was so interested in their store cats that the employees would sometimes hold one (at a safe distance) to encourage him onto the scale so we could weigh him. It became a bit of a running joke because nothing else grabbed his attention quite like a cat.”
Prince was at the vet recently for a routine visit, and one of the clinic’s regular cat patients happened to be there too. They decided to test if the cat would distract Prince long enough to give him a practice shot — and it absolutely worked.
The pup was so mesmerized by the cat in the window that he barely noticed anything else happening in the room around him, which is the exact opposite of how he usually is at the vet. The experiment worked like a charm, and everyone is hoping that the next time Prince needs a shot, they’ll be able to replicate it.
Pavlovich posted the video of Prince and his cat friend online, and the entire internet agreed on two things: The idea was brilliant and Prince is perfect.
“People have called our veterinarian a genius, said she deserves a raise and joked that every doctor’s office should start offering cats before giving shots,” Pavlovich said.
