Vet Clinic Makes Visits More “Bear-able” With 45 Punny Signs

By Sachin P

This article was originally published on FunCatz

Few things in this world are absolute. But when it comes to animals and puns, we absolutely adore them! Therefore, we’ve created something almost holy when we combine the two. It goes without saying that we admire the signage created by the punny as heck staff of the Holly Ridge Veterinary Hospital in North Carolina. As per a spokesman from the vet clinic, the signage has received a number of fantastic responses. It might be a modest facility, but its employees have large hearts. They are truly amazing human beings. They save our pets and have mastered the art of the pun. We have gathered a few of their very best for you to peruse. So, sit back, relax, and just enjoy!

All images courtesy of Holly Ridge Veterinary Hospital on Facebook.

Filtering out white noise

Seriously, though. This is so on-brand with cats it just makes us burst with laughter the moment we see it. Anyone who is a cat person knows this to be true. It is a quality that oddly makes us love cats even more.

Image courtesy of HollyRidgeVet / Facebook

Imagine just chilling in your room, and you see your cat ambling by. Overcome with love, you call him only for him to promptly ignore your calls. This rings true for all commands, especially if it involves the use of the word “No.”

They do make a point you know

People are born with the potential to detect a wide variety of sounds, but we can’t hear it all. Especially noises in the higher frequency region! Take dog whistles that can be heard by dogs but not by humans. Dogs’ ears have been developed to detect these.

Image courtesy of HollyRidgeVet / Facebook

This is a joke worthy of Dads everywhere. We love a joke that has a totally logical answer (“because dogs hear at a higher frequency, duh”) but pulls a sneaky on you and turns it into something entirely and gloriously ridiculous.

Purr-fect pun

Now, if we talk about puns, this is a well-crafted one. It is like a home run by Babe Ruth. A thing of such a genuine and rare form of beauty that true pun aficionados can appreciate. And everyone else can too.

Image courtesy of HollyRidgeVet / Facebook

But if we can swallow the groan that involuntarily escapes our throats every time we hear a painful pun or a terrible dad joke, we can admit that we need this. Everything looks brighter when we hear a good pun.

What have you done?!

Well, there go the perks of having an obedient dog. Oy vey! No more tail wagging when you come home. No more cuddles and belly rubs whenever you want to give one to your loving dogs. All because of you!

Image courtesy of HollyRidgeVet / Facebook

Seriously, though, this is one quality joke. What makes it even funnier is the fact that it is true. Cats are notorious when it comes to being high maintenance. But at the end of the day, we accept our pets for who they are, regardless of how dramatic they act.

Something which has stood the test of time

Completely true. The ancient Egyptians had a major thing for cats. They had a cat-headed goddess called Bastet or Bast. She was considered the protector of Lower Egypt and the defender of the Pharoah. We don’t need to tell you cat lovers that we think our felines remember this.

Image courtesy of HollyRidgeVet / Facebook

It is something they haven’t forgotten to this day, even after close to five millennia. Thousands of years have passed, and cats still retain that godly status, wherever they are, whoever they are with. That is some feat when you think about it.

Phrases that makes us go, “hmm…”

This is funny because the action “to toot” can mean two things. One refers to the action of blowing a trumpet or a similar wind instrument. The other meaning, well, let’s just say it isn’t polite to do in front of company.

Image courtesy of HollyRidgeVet / Facebook

This is one that delights the immature side of us. We could go into the etiquette of this – which is what the joke is based on – but why spoil a good, solid joke with logic? We’re not gonna.

Pretty obvious, isn’t it?

What makes this hilarious is the apparent nature of the joke itself. But there is another reason why birds stand on one leg. It has something to do with science and whatnot, so we won’t bore you with all that.

Image courtesy of HollyRidgeVet / Facebook

We would call this an eye-roller, wouldn’t you? Our favorite part about it is the image we get of a flamingo falling sideways into the shallow water. This releases our inner child. We’ll let you know when we’ve stopped giggling.

We understood that reference

We feel kind of bad at laughing at this joke which centers around a disabled cow. But what makes it this funny, though? Well, the punchline is this: how can a cow without any legs move anywhere? It’s in the same spot you last saw it!

Image courtesy of HollyRidgeVet / Facebook

Because it is missing out on the very thing that enables it to move around, but on the off chance the cow in question is born with the ability to manipulate gravity, it can float. Then this joke would be null and void.

Get it

Okay, so picture a Corgi. You know, the dog breed of Ein in Cowboy Bebop? That’s a bit of a hard reference, even though it’s a popular show. But you might remember them as the cute dogs that the Queen of England loves.

Image courtesy of HollyRidgeVet / Facebook

She has loved them ever since she was a little girl, and for nine decades, she has owned close to 30 corgis. This joke is about their size – or rather, their little legs. So, they are low and fat!

Oops!

We all know that the Unicorn is a mythical animal. In fact, it is believed that the Vikings propagated the myth to sell narwhal horns. In case you wonder what a narwhal is, it is a sea creature with a unicorn-like horn on its head.

Image courtesy of HollyRidgeVet / Facebook

Pretty exciting stuff can be when you get to know about it. But this joke is just as enjoyable. Unicorns are pretty popular right now, so this clinic didn’t miss their chance for a spin on the age-old “should have left the mosquitos off the ark” joke.

Oh that’s a good one, that is

Sheepdogs are named as such because they are, as their name implies, they are used to herd sheep. It could be any livestock, but mainly sheep. They have the intelligence and the charisma needed to be assertive and protective of their charges.

Image courtesy of HollyRidgeVet / Facebook

But the joke is not about their purpose. It’s a pun. A Collie is a type of Sheepdog. You know, like Lassie? And we’re sure we don’t need to spell out the rest for you. The image we get from this is just too cute!

Good question

This is the kind of shower thought that will make us spend hours under the water, contemplating. But, knowing dogs, it could be something like “The world’s greatest, kindest human with no contest whatsoever.” All of you dog lovers know it’s true.

Image courtesy of HollyRidgeVet / Facebook

Obviously, not in English, though. Trained dogs can associate commands by the way they sound. It will be pretty interesting to know what dogs are thinking and what kind of language they are using. Things would get real then, for sure.

Technically speaking…

It is true. After being super technical, the joke here exploits the meaning of the word “empty” here for it to be funny. And it succeeds at that. Cat owners know how much their felines will hog a box if they find one.

Image courtesy of HollyRidgeVet / Facebook

It’s like that question where there are four birds in a branch. Due to a loud noise, one bird flies away. How many birds are left? In reality, none! As no bird would be in that branch after a loud noise.

We see what you did there!

Dalmatians were originally bred as hunting dogs. But they were also used as carriage dogs, interestingly enough. The breed’s origins may be traced all the way back to present-day Croatia as well as the ancient territory of Dalmatia. For real!

Image courtesy of HollyRidgeVet / Facebook

Dalmatians are a favorite house pet nowadays, and so many dog lovers have them competing in many dog-related competitions. And they are well-known for? Yep, you guessed it! Their spots. And that, friends, is what makes this one so clever.

We loaf these kinds of puns

What kind of dog indeed would be within the vicinity of a bakery? Mostly a type of a guard dog. But if the bakery owner happens to be the jovial kind, maybe something like a Labrador or a Retriever. Even a chihuahua maybe.

Image courtesy of HollyRidgeVet / Facebook

Well, it seems like we have well deviated from the joke here. Sorry for taking it in a literal sense, guys. Now that’s clever wordplay. So clever, it took us a moment to get it. And we thought we were pun masters. Alas.

Paw-sitively A-meow-zing

At first glance, you’re like, wait! This can’t be right! Cats are anyway predators, so why would they need to cook eggs? Plus, they do not have the dexterity required to manipulate an egg into an omelet as a human can.

Image courtesy of HollyRidgeVet / Facebook

Come on, y’all! We’re messing with you. It is just a hearty pun aimed at the cat’s facial whiskers and the whisk you use to beat eggs. A well-structured pun, with even better delivery. Eggs-cellent job to the pun crew for this one.

Cultivate good habits

Meditation is a very good practice. No wonder the Romans said, “Mens Sana in Corpore Sano” which means “a healthy mind and a healthy body.” When you have good peace of mind, everything just seems to fall into place and make sense.

Image courtesy of HollyRidgeVet / Facebook

So, they used the wordplay between the words “aware” and “a were.” You become aware when you meditate and they used the idea of the wolf being a werewolf to construct this gem of a joke. Really well crafted, this is.

Good suggestion

Fishing tournament, eh? It must be regarding salmon. Or some other freshwater game fish species like perch or catfish. If the peaceful art of fishing is to be considered a contest, might as well use fish that are plenty in numbers.

Image courtesy of HollyRidgeVet / Facebook

We have veered off subject again, haven’t we? This isn’t about competitive fishing! This is about using the phrase “live stream” in a context that makes it look like it means something else entirely. Well, that’s the wondrous nature of puns!

He’s right, you know…

It is known by many that salmon swim upstream to lay their eggs. They follow the same waterways that their ancestors did – kinda like how butterflies follow the same migration route every year, living and dying along the way.

Image courtesy of HollyRidgeVet / Facebook

So the joke here is this. This salmon runs into a wall. Here they use the beautiful invention of the homonym, and they got a hearty laugh off of us. We’re picturing the little (well, not so little) fish rubbing its head and shaking its fin at human inventions.

That’s really funny

We have all seen countless cartoons – from TV shows to movies to coloring pages – of cats living their best nine lives with balls of yarn. When we first got a cat of our own, we assumed this was in their DNA, and they’d need nothing else.

Image courtesy of HollyRidgeVet / Facebook

We were wrong about that, but they do love some string. Having gotten that off our chest, we have to say that this made us laugh. Cats give birth to kittens, but a cat and yarn coupling leads to mittens.

Compelling argument

For real, though. If an advanced race of extra-terrestrials looked at earth now and saw a guy walking a dog and picking up its waste, they’d be like, “well, there are the leaders.” They would have a point, and we all know it.

Image courtesy of HollyRidgeVet / Facebook

Here we are, at the top of the food chain and with millions of years of evolution to aid us. Yet, we are servants of our fluffy loved ones. Well, ET would understand what it means to have a pet if they saw the way our dogs look at us.

Classic

Classic joke indeed. But this does get us thinking. What if fish could make noise? Could we even imagine what that would sound like? It very well could be that their singing would not have us raising the roof.

leftalone-GiovanniHollyRidgeVet / Facebook

The word “fish” itself is a blanket term to describe hundreds and thousands of species known and unknown. So it’s weird we started calling it tuna fish. We know this, but it does nothing to diminish the effect of this well-used, well-loved, and well-executed pun.

Indeed they are

When you look at the bigger picture, it is unclear who domesticated who when it comes to cats. Most are born with that regal, bored, “we are so posh” countenance that endears us to them. It’s rare they act guilty about something.

Image courtesy of HollyRidgeVet / Facebook

It is an intriguing thought. Dogs evolved from wolves, and when the first wolf who was domesticated met the first man, it saw that this life had benefits and allowed domestication. Cats just moved in and claimed a place to themselves. Quite on-brand!

Bear with me

Oh, goodness! Where did they find this award-winning joke? This is definitely one for the history books or a night at the comedy club. Quick wit is the key to constructing a solid joke like this. You could really build a routine around this concept.

Image courtesy of HollyRidgeVet / Facebook

Some of you might wonder, “why gummy bears? It’s candy, right? What does a sweet have to do with a bear with no teeth… Ohh! Gummy as in the gums inside of your mouth! Now we get it.” Clever indeed.

They do what now?

Rarely do catfights end with both parties happy. Or else they wouldn’t fight each other at all. Like two high schoolers with a grudge, they will be ignoring each other’s presence like one of them is invisible to the other.

Image courtesy of HollyRidgeVet / Facebook

What is great about this joke is the pun (hiss instead of kiss), which provides us with one round of laughter. And then there is the fact that this is also super accurate and makes us cat lovers laugh all over again.

Another good one

Bullfighting. A debated topic, to say the very least. We have many opinions about it. Let’s not veer too much from the subject and come back to the joke in question now. We all know the stereotypical red flag that is waved at a bullfight.

Image courtesy of HollyRidgeVet / Facebook

Technically, bulls are colorblind, and they just charge at anything which moves. But logic takes a backseat to good humor, right? You just have to go with it sometimes and roll with the punchlines. This certainly gets an A for effort.

Aptly so

Well, dinosaurs couldn’t formulate comprehensive words to communicate. The knowledge we have is from fossil evidence only, and even that is sometimes not exact. But whenever we see a dinosaur in a movie, we get excited instantly. That’s the magic they bring.

Image courtesy of HollyRidgeVet / Facebook

A while back, there was this meme from an old movie about prehistoric humans and dinosaurs living together. In that meme, a group of cavemen tries to fend off a dinosaur which just says the most complex of words. It’s a thesaurus!

If you look at it that way…

Storytelling is a privileged position. It was a celebrated duty back in the day because these people were trusted with carrying the generational wisdom. They had a place of respect in society back in the day. Who doesn’t like to hear stories?

Image courtesy of HollyRidgeVet / Facebook

There was this adaptation of the story 1,001 Arabian Nights. In that, the storyteller says to Scheherazade that people want stories more than bread itself. This is probably why cats are lousy at storytelling – they think food is better than entertainment.

The most wonderful time of the year

Winter is truly the most wonderful time of the year. Since the start of this month, it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, with toys in every store. You just know it in your bones when it is that time of year.

Image courtesy of HollyRidgeVet / Facebook

It is unexplainable, but the feeling of joy is very real. Like this joke. Remember the famous lyric “dashing through the snow” from the song “Jingle bells”? Instead of dashing, they have substituted dachshund here. Now that’s what we call clever!

Barking up the wrong tree here!

The relationship between dogs and postmen is legendary. So is the relationship between dogs and garbage men and delivery men. They have this idea in their brains that these guys are encroaching on their territory, and they must protect their humans at all costs.

Image courtesy of HollyRidgeVet / Facebook

But there are some dogs who have by now, understood that it’s not the case here. They seem to be at peace with all the delivery men, postmen, and garbage men. That kind of balance is what this world needs.

Oh no!

Stay paw-sitive, furry one! Your human parents will for sure take care of you. That’s what places like the Holly Ridge Veterinary Clinic are for. The aunties and uncles there will take excellent care to make you be feline well again.

Image courtesy of HollyRidgeVet / Facebook

This pun opportunity was simply too blatant and fun to miss, and it is, like, a triple layer joke! Cat puns are probably our favorites (we say that till we see the next dog pun). We were not disappointed here.

Oh My Gosh!!

This is by far one of the best jokes we have seen in this thread! We are almost compelled to send it to the top five because it is that well-crafted. The guys who came up with this banger need a treat!

Image courtesy of HollyRidgeVet / Facebook

So, cocker spaniel, a poodle, and a rooster. What is the call of a rooster? Cock-a-doodle-doo! That is what they aimed at recreating here. Cocker, poodle, doo sounds a lot like the call of a rooster in the morning, no? Yes!

*Eye roll intensifies*

Pulled by Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, the sleigh of Santa Claus is something that defies all known laws of physics. It can visit all the households with children around the world, in one night. What a wonderful season this is.

Image courtesy of HollyRidgeVet / Facebook

Now for this joke to work, you need to know certain things. Firstly, Santa parks his sleigh on the roof. Secondly, he gets down the chimney. So the joke uses the double meaning of the phrase “on the house” to bring it home.

Who wants to go to the park?

Dogs and fetch. A match made in heaven. You can’t be specifying doggy heaven as such because any heaven with dogs is paradise to us all. We love seeing them get all worked up and excited the moment they hear the word “fetch.”

Image courtesy of HollyRidgeVet / Facebook

Their eyes light up; they start that bark which just shouts excitement from every frequency. They also start doing their happy dance because that is how much playing fetch means to them. If our dogs are happy, we are delighted too.

What a nice clown

When we speak of clowns, what we remember most of the time would be Modern Family. No, we don’t mean the actors are clowns! We mean the fear Phil Dunphy had of them and Cam’s obsession with Fizbo the Clown.

Image courtesy of HollyRidgeVet / Facebook

Then there’s Pennywise if you like the horror genre. Stephen King really outdid himself with that book. Then if you are a fan of The Simpsons TV series, there is Krusty the Clown, who just runs an entertainment empire based on his persona.

Cheeky

An elephant’s trunk is a thing to marvel at. Made out of almost 40,000 muscles, they have learned to use it as a tool to feed themselves, bathe themselves, drink water, signal when they are angry or anxious. It is truly remarkable.

Image courtesy of HollyRidgeVet / Facebook

When you consider it, an elephant in whole is truly remarkable as well. But what is funny is imagining the zoo animals at a pool party together. This is one of the reasons why we love puns. The images they put in our heads are too funny for words!

That’s funny

Ugly Christmas sweaters are a tradition. Like eggnog and carols, ugly Christmas sweaters are here to stay. And we think that is great. Because in their own way, they uplift the spirit of Christmas. Can you even imagine the holiday season without them?

Image courtesy of HollyRidgeVet / Facebook

Here they have used the clothing item “Pullover” with the command you hear from a squad car telling you to “pull over” if you had been in violation of a stipulated law. Pretty funny if you ask us. Nearly choked on our food at this one.

You have got to be kitten me!

That is just claw-ful! A meow-tain? Seriously? That is hiss-terical because of its awful nature. Who even comes up with this stuff? We do love to take a peek inside their minds to see how the cogs are turning inside their heads.

Image courtesy of HollyRidgeVet / Facebook

To think there are people who can come up with these next-level jokes is kind of assuring, in a way. It means that there are people out there thinking of terrible puns just for our eye-rolling delight. This warms our hearts.

We come in peace

There is a chance, if aliens did visit the earth, they would consider cats to be the superior life form. Just look at how much love and affection we shower on our beloved balls of fur. We smother them with affection.

Image courtesy of HollyRidgeVet / Facebook

And cats do know how to work us humans well to continue living their rich lifestyle. Apart from a few quirks, we totally understand why ancient Egyptians were gaga about cats. They just merge with your life and make it better.

Stephen King writes jokes too?

My goodness. This is a bit dark, but if you look at it from a comedic standpoint, this really takes the cake. It made us giggle anyway. In all fairness, for those of us omnivores, this is a pretty accurate joke.

Image courtesy of HollyRidgeVet / Facebook

Enjoy your meals but always remember that too much of a good thing can be bad. And that going to a petting zoo might make you think twice about going out and getting the lamb chops at the restaurant tonight.

Bad doggy!

For those who have the desire to become parents, there is nothing in this world as precious as your children. Children bring joy and happiness to a house, and by adding to the family, they make the house into a home.

Image courtesy of HollyRidgeVet / Facebook

Same thing if you are an animal. The love of a mother knows no bounds. They even laugh at ridiculous jokes their kids make up. The same way we are laughing at this oh, so ridiculous and yet glorious pun.

An age old rivalry

Felines and canines do not genuinely dislike one another. Whenever they fight, it’s mostly about predator impulses and ineffective communication than anything else. As per Dr. Jill Sackman, a behavioral medicine specialist, most dogs are developed to pursue and hunt.

Image courtesy of HollyRidgeVet / Facebook

This is another joke that brings up memories of all the cartoons we spent our afternoons watching after school. We’ve also heard the phrase, “His bark is worse than his bite.” So as you can see, this pun has many layers to it.

Ouch

This joke is about two dogs, but what happened to them we can all relate to. We get so lost in our thoughts (or in scrolling the ‘gram) to the extent that we run into things we should be avoiding.

Image courtesy of HollyRidgeVet / Facebook

We kinda expected a spin on the “got any grapes” joke we all know and love. We do appreciate it when we expect a dog-centered punchline to accompany a classic joke, but it gets turned on its head and is taken in the literal direction.

Hallelujah! It’s raining…pets??

In the 1651 compilation of poetry, Olor Iscanus, a term comparable to “raining cats and dogs,” had first been documented. A roof that’s been protected against “dogs and cats rained in shower” was described by English poet Henry Vaughan.

Image courtesy of HollyRidgeVet / Facebook

“It shall shower dogs and polecats,” wrote English dramatist Richard Brome in the comedy City Witt a year afterward. Guess now that we know the origin of this phrase, we can appreciate this pun even more. Gives those poodle puddles a wide berth!

24K Magic

The word carat is used to describe diamonds. We all know this, and that’s why this joke works. We might have just missed the Thanksgiving season, but we can all get down with some turkey jokes, right? We knew you’d agree.

Image courtesy of HollyRidgeVet / Facebook

And luckily, this joke works all year round, no matter where you are. Well, as long as it’s English. We kinda doubt this pun could work in other languages, but if it actually could, can someone let us know? This is for science.