The saddest sentence

I took Widget to the vet yesterday for a physical, and I mentioned the problems he’s been having with his right ear, and how upset he gets when I try to look at it. Early on, she asked me if I’d brought a stool sample, and when I said no, she said they’d give me a cup and I could drop it back after Widget produced one.

Afterwards, she took him into the back room and I could hear him yelping in distress. She came back and described how they’d cleaned out the infection in his ear and put in some gel. Then she said something that still makes me sad:

He produced a stool sample while we were working on his ear.

Poor little guy.