A woman took a very limp duck into a veterinary surgeon. As
she lay her pet on the table, the vet pulled out his stethoscope
and listened to the bird's chest.
After a moment or two, the vet shook his head sadly and said,
"I'm so sorry, your Duck 'Cuddles' has passed away."
The distressed owner wailed, "Are you sure?"
"Yes, I am sure. The duck is dead," he replied.
"How can you be so sure," she protested. "I mean, you haven't
done any testing on him or anything.. He might just be in a
coma or something."
The vet rolled his eyes, turned around and left the room, and
returned a few moments later with a black Labrador Retriever.
As the duck's owner looked on in amazement, the dog stood on his
hind legs, put his front paws on the examination table and
sniffed the duck from top to bottom. He then looked at the vet
with sad eyes and shook his head.
The vet patted the dog and took it out, and returned a few
moments later with a cat. The cat jumped up on the table and also
sniffed delicately at the bird from head to foot. The cat sat
back on it's haunches, shook its head, meowed softly and strolled
out of the room.
The vet looked at the woman and said, "I'm sorry, but as I said,
this is most definitely, 100% certifiably, a dead duck." Then
the vet turned to his computer terminal, hit a few keys and
produced a bill, which he handed to the woman.
The duck's owner, still in shock, took the bill. "?250!", she
cried, "?250 just to tell me my duck is dead!!
The vet shrugged. "I'm sorry. If you'd taken my word for it, the
bill would have been ?20, but with the Lab Report and the Cat
Scan, it's now ?250.00."