A woman brought a very limp parrot 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. Polly has passed away."
The distressed owner wailed, "Are you sure? 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, shrugged, turned and left the room. He returned
a few moments later with beautiful black Labrador. As the bird's owner
looked on in amazement, the dog stood on his hind legs, put his front paws on
the examination table and sniffed the dead parrot from top to bottom. He
then looked at the vet with sad eyes and shook his head. The vet led the dog
out, but returned a few moments later with a lovely Siamese cat.
The cat jumped up and also sniffed delicately at the ex-bird. The cat
sat back, shook its head, meowed and ran out of the room. The vet looked
at the woman and said, "I'm sorry; but as I said, your parrot is most
definitely, 100 percent certifiably dead."
He then turned to his computer terminal, hit a few keys and produced a
bill which he handed to the woman. The parrot's owner, still in shock, took
the bill. "$150!" she cried. "$150 just to tell me my bird is dead?!"
The vet shrugged. "If you'd taken my word for it, the bill would only
have been $20, but with the Lab Report and the Cat Scan..."
Submitted by reader B.P.