Kitty’s Burns
Stuffed animals and dolls get burnt in many ways. Some are in fires. Some get burnt in the dryer, or with a blow dryer, in an attempt to dry them after a wash. But another common burn is from a lightbulb. Sometimes, you catch the burn early, so there’s just a touch of discoloration. This happened to one of my teddy bears when I was in college… he fell off the bed onto a light. But I caught him pretty quick. Here he is today with some of his friends: Eeyore, a quoll, and a quokka:
‘and here’s his burn. It’s on the back of his leg, and it still feels like the rest of his fur, so ‘and here’s his burn. It’s on the back of his leg, and it still feels like the rest of his fur, so I’ve opted to leave it as is. Any transplant wouldn’t match perfectly, and would be pretty invasive surgery. He earned his scar and he’s proud of it. 🙂
But sometimes, patients get really burnt by lightbulbs. As in charred, third degree burns. And that’s what happened to Kitty. She was sitting on a light that was accidentally turned on and no one noticed till it was too late! Here is her diagnosis photo:
The (nice?) round burn went all the way around to her backside, but was quite localized. Burning had not only changed her fur color, it was charred, the fur melted, and so did some of the stuffing underneath. For this type of burn, the treatment is to excise the burnt fur and stuffing, and then give the patient new fur and stuffing as needed to restore the damaged areas. This is different from the usual fur transplants for bald spots, which go over surviving skin. Kitty’s family decided she would get a spa too. She arrived and after stuffingectomy, started her bubble bath:
She got new stuffing, with a heart of original, unburnt stuffing:
And then she had surgery to treat the burn itself. Here she is all better and ready to fly home:
It’s pretty hard to see the new fur, which was great! And it will blend even more as she’s hugged in her natural environment. Her family wrote “Oh wow! She looks fantastic! 🙂 I just shared photos with my wife, and she’s very happy 🙂 …. couldn’t be more pleased!”
So Kitty flew home for more hugs and adventures… but no more lightbulb seats!
