Gee Edwina, I'm glad you only have to go once a year. Wow! My boys are like butter at the vets. I pour them out of the carriers (well, sometimes I have to dump them! LOL!) They lay on that shiny metal table and will do anything that is expected of them. He even partially scaled Trev's teeth once! I can tell that they are stressed by the amount of hair they leave behind, but other than that you'd never know. For me the worst part is "capturing" them to get them into their porta prison in the first place!