aren't we very familiar with this problem
we breed abyssinian cats, very smart cats, they even see us touch the cat carriers they hide, we also have had the cat carriers in enticing places for a couple of years, but they won't go near them
they know a cat carrier either means the vets, or a cat show (12 hours of boredom for the cat) or for the queens, it may mean they're being whisked away to breed at another cattery,
we have been trying to get one of the queens in a carrier to move her into the stud pen with the male, not a chance
we have one of those beds on wheels, so when they hide under the bed, we can roll it off the top of them.
we had to turn all the couches upside down, so that they can't hide inside them