A woman brought a very limp duck to a veterinary surgeon. As she lay her pet on the table, the doctor pulled out his stethoscope and listened to the bird's chest. After a moment or two, the doctor shook his head sadly and said, "I'm so sorry, your duck, Cuddles has passed away."

The distressed owner wailed, "Are you sure?"
"The duck is dead", he replied.

"How can you be so certain," she protested. "I mean, you haven't done any  testing on him.  He might just be in a coma or something."

The doctor 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 doctor with sad eyes and shook his head.

The doctor patted the dog on its head and took it out, and returned with a cat. The cat jumped up on the table and also delicately sniffed at the bird from head to foot. The cat sat back on it's haunches, shook its head, meowed softly, jumped down off the table and strolled out of the room.

The doctor looked at the woman and said: "I'm sorry, but this is definitely--certifiably-- a dead duck""

Then the doctor then turned to his computer and generated a bill, which he handed to the woman.

The duck's owner, still in shock, took the bill. "$150.00" she cried, "$150.00 just to tell me my duck is dead !"

The doctor shrugged. "I'm sorry, but if you'd taken my word for it, the bill would have been $20.00. But with the Lab Report and the Cat Scan, it's now $150.00.


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