realmsofgold

Rabbit visits the stuffed animal hospital for skin repair

Rabbit’s person gave me permission to share his story with you, including details from our emails discussing his stay at the stuffed animal hospital and details of his repair plan.:-)

She initially wrote:

I live in South Florida and I am a big fan of your hospital! I have a stuffed rabbit plush animal, I believe he may have once been a Bugs Bunny plush, but to me he has always been “Rabbit” and I cannot find any leads online as to his “origins”. Rabbit has been with me since I was 6 months old– he’s almost 24 years old! He’s been my constant companion, and I still sleep with him and love him to this day. As you might imagine, this has led to many surgeries… 

Lately, Rabbit has had very thin fabric fur, and you can see through to the stuffing (mostly on his tummy). He’s also in need of some new stuffing, as his current has gotten pretty clumpy over the years. My mom and I have talked about possibly giving him a  complete fur transplant on his tummy as we have applied patches before, but we aren’t experts and don’t want to cause him harm! He gets holes in his fabric very easily as he has become very delicate from love over the years… We are almost afraid to touch him with anything other than a hug! 

Now there were many photos attached to this note, and just fyi, for diagnosis the more photos the better, but you all don’t need quite so many close ups… here are three critical photos from his diagnosis:

You can really see in the last two photos how thin his fabric was getting…. but he has such a cute face, and it’s mostly embroidered, and I thought they may want to keep that, so…. there were many (actually 7!) options for his care. Keep in mind, he’s over 2 feet long, too. Here were the treatment options (a spa could be added to any):

1) Given his style of fabric, and his artistic belly patches, and the fact that he has embroidered facial features, we could line his body with new fabric.  This reinforces his body and limbs while keeping his current appearance.  He would get all new body stuffing as part of this treatment, as the stuffing would need to come out for lining and it can’t go back in.  But, a small amount of original stuffing would be preserved in a heart in his chest.  With this treatment, he could still wear, but you would see lining before stuffing.  Also, for future repairs, the lining could take the pressure of stitches away from his skin.  I would also minimize the older scarring on his side. 

2) I can do everything in option 1, plus line his head. 

3) I can do everything in option 1, plus line his head and ears. 

4) Instead of lining, we could recover just his belly and lower sides of limbs. His original skin (and old patches) would remain underneath, reinforcing the new fabric.  I would get as close as possible to his current fabric color and texture.  Perfect fabric matches are rarely possible, but if that is the case, I will send photos of him with transplant options so you can choose what you like best. I would also minimize his scars. 

5) I can recover his entire torso and limbs (leaving his head and ears as is). I would also minimize his scars.

6) I can recover his belly and lower side of limbs around his patches (keeping his artistic appearance). I would also minimize his scars.

7) I can recover his belly around his patches and recover the rest of his body and limbs. I would also minimize his scars.

His person thought about it, discussed it with her family, and ultimately decided on option 5: recover his entire torso and limbs but leave his head and ears as is. They also added a spa for Rabbit, which would treat the lumpiness of his stuffing as well as clean him.

So Rabbit flew to the hospital and began treatment with his bubble bath:

He got restuffed before recovering, so here is his heart being made and installed with a bit of his original stuffing:

I started by recovering his gray areas, leaving the white of his pawpads and tail original. At this point, I sent chubbiness approval photos and let his person decide whether she still wanted to recover the white (which was in better shape than the gray):

His person wrote: “Wow, he looks amazing!! His chubbiness looks perfect, I can’t wait to hold him! I would like to recover his white patches of fur”

So Rabbit got closed up, and the white got recovered, and then he was ready to fly home!

Approved, Rabbit flew home to Florida. When he arrived back cross country, his person wrote:

Rabbit is home!! Thank you so, so much!! He looks amazing, he’s soooo soft and cuddly, I can’t wait to spend many many more years with my darling angel rabbit! I cannot thank you enough Doctor, you’re truly an angel!! I’m so blessed to have found you and your lovely hospital!! My mom and I can’t stop gushing over how soft and cuddly Rabbit is, he’s like brand new! I’ll continue to treasure him for the rest of my life with your help!

Sailor the Teddy Bear: hospital visit and repair

Sailor the teddy bear’s person wrote a month or so ago hoping for some treatment. Sailor himself was in pretty good shape, except for some small eye issues to repair, but his clothes had worn to the point that she wanted them replaced, and she figured he should enjoy a spa while he was in California as well.

Here is Sailor’s diagnosis photo:

Now the eye issue which isn’t quite clear, is his eyes were a bit off kilter. When he came to the hospital and was getting prepped for his spa, I found the reason – the post of his right eye (left in the photo) was broken off inside and his eye had been glued into place. Fortunately, as you’ll see, we were able to restore his vision to 20/20.

Also, in addition to a new outfit for Sailor, his person was hoping for one of those sailor cape/collars to go over his shoulders, matching the color of his pants and hat. He was to keep his original hat, but the trim at the back needed a bit of repair.

Here’s Sailor in his bubble bath:

And here’s his heart being made and installed with a bit of his original stuffing:

And finally, here’s Sailor all better and ready to fly home! A few things to note about his new clothes — the shirt and pants are one piece, just like the original. They close with a snap at the top, but have a decorative button where the snap is, that matches the small striped area on the front of his shirt. His new collar/cape is removable as well. You can also see the chubbiness testing photo, where I’m poking his belly (I don’t show this usually). This is where his person had the chance to add feedback to adjust his stuffing if needed.

Sailor’s person approved and he flew home to Michigan. BTW, he flew both ways with an air tag in his box, so his person knew exactly where he was at all times. The funniest thing with air tag patients is the air tag makes a jingly sound when it moves, so every time I move an air tag patient’s bed, I have to remind myself that they don’t have internal bells, that’s their tracker. 🙂

Anyway, Sailor made it home safe and sound and his person wrote:

“He’s perfect omg ; ; I can’t thank you enough”

The Stuffed animal repair of very dapper Habersham

Habersham’s is a felt and knit dog who was in desperate need of wound treatment. He came with a truly interesting backstory. His person wrote:

We met up a little over 6 years ago when we traveled to a little town in North Carolina to take a tour of a house we hoped to build in Ohio.  He (Habersham) was a memento of that trip and the house we fell in love with during it, and has had a spot in our living room ever since. 

Fast forward 6 years, and alas we are within weeks of moving into this very house.  The journey to get here has been long and arduous.  After so many delays we were finally able to start construction, only to have a builder steal money, followed by months of delays and hassles with a new builder.  What was intended to be a dream has been a veritable nightmare, and has taken its toll on us in more ways than I can count.

So, of course, we were excited to have Habersham come along with us to help bring some good energy and fond memories to the house.  Unfortunately our cleaning lady threw him in the basket of dog toys earlier today for some reason and before we discovered him the puppy had.  Alas, he is a little too much like me these days, tattered and a bit worse for the wear.

Here is the diagnosis photos they sent:

What you can’t see, is in addition to the leg and muzzle wounds, Habersham also lost the tip of his tail. But otherwise, he really was in good shape, and still quite a dapper fellow.

The plan was just to treat his wounds, but in order to make the scars as inconspicuous as possible, we would take a small transplant of fabric from the back of his head to use to repair his muzzle, then repair the leg with new fabric as needed. No spa for Habersham, the puppy had not been particularly slobbery. 🙂

Here he is, just before he went home. Wounds repaired, new nose, new tail tip, and looking dapper and dashing again, ready to grace his new home with luck, smiles, and hugs.

His family wrote:

He looks great!  Thank you for getting that done.  I love that his “patch” is on the back and hardly noticeable.

And Habersham flew home to his new Ohio home.

Lucky the teddy bear visits the teddy bear hospital for a wash and new overalls!

Lucky the teddy bear’s family thought it was time for some special care. He was pushing 40, hadn’t had a bath since the Eighties, and his person’s person thought he’d look cute if he got overalls. Here are a couple of his diagnosis photos:

We agreed on a spa, seam tightening, fur transplants as needed for bald spots, and new blue corduroy overalls with a pocket — he was a big fan of Corduroy the bear of book fame.

Here he is in his bubble bath:

If you look closely, you can see the water under the bubbles is turning tan as he gets clean.

Here’s his heart being made and installed with a bit of his original stuffing (blue to match his new overalls):

And here he is all better and ready to fly home!

Lucky’s family were close enough to drive down to the hospital and pick him up in person. They wrote:

He looks great – I definitely approve. You did a great job, and I’m so lucky to have found someone with your skill.

A quick fix for Little Bear to Restore his vision!

I thought I’d share a few “quick fix” stuffed animal repair since I’ve been talking about patients with more complicated issues for a while. This should also make those of you who like shorter posts happy. 🙂

Little Bear was the victim of a bit of rough housing with the family dog, and lost his eyes and the fur that made his eye sockets:

He didn’t need a spa, or any other repairs, just vision restored. Here he is all better, seeing the world 20/20 again:

He flew home to Nevada and his family wrote “Awww, hello Little Bear! He looks wonderful! Thank you so much!”

Randy the Rhino’s Story

I’d like you all to meet Randy the Rhino.  While I’ve had patients who’ve traveled the world with their people, I think Randy gets the most traveled medal.  He has traveled over a million miles on the hood of his person’s big rig!  Here he is in days of past glory:

Unfortunately, Randy had a little accident.  He slipped, and before his person could stop and get him, another vehicle had run him over.  Here he is when he arrived at the stuffed animal hospital for repair.  He was carefully bundled.  What you can’t see is his people actually used a balloon as part of his padding.  I thought that was a great idea!

and dressed:

As you can see, he had major face damage.  Once his clothes came off, you could see he also had lower spine damage, and that previous injuries were held together with duct tape:

Randy’s people wanted to keep him as close to original as possible. They opted for facial reconstruction and wound repair.  He also needed new horns and a new tail transplanted.  There wouldn’t be a spa, because he was planning to go right back out on the road.

I kept some of his duct tape… removing it would have caused more damage than not, and it was part of his personality.  His new skin was black, of a similar velour to his original skin.  The idea is for it to fade to match over time, as he has direct sun exposure.  Here he is after surgeries:

Randy made it home in time for Christmas.  His person’s daughter (who is the one who sent him to the hospital) said:

He looks great thank you for all the work you did!

Here’s hoping Randy travels another million miles along America’s highways.  If you see him on the road in passing, don’t forget to say hi!

Keai is home in Singapore!

Keai is a very small bunny. Her family hand delivered her to the stuffed animal hospital from Singapore for full fur recovering and a gentle spa in January.  Here she is on arrival:

She also had a full wardrobe with her… more on that below.

She started, as many patients do, with a bubble bath:

She was so tiny, her heart went into her head rather than her body!  Once cleaned and stuffed she got recovered.  Here are her first photos showing off her new fur:

And here she is proving she still fits in her clothes (she came with four costume changes!):

Her family asked for a few adjustments and photos of other angles:

Then she got dressed again and climbed into her travel case with her rubber ducky and carrot for the long overnight flight back to Singapore without a human escort:

When she arrived home, her person had her right back in front of the camera.  Doing yoga (side plank):

Playing with her ducky:

Testing that all her clothes at home fit still:

And dressing up like the flight attendants who helped her get home:

Finally, her person sent combined before and after photos, so you can really see the difference:

Keai’s family wrote:

Thank you so much Doctor Beth! She is so perfect!

Bear aka the bear from Grease aka Fonzy Bear

Bear is a Reeses Valentine’s Day Bear. Doesn’t he look like he should be riding in Grease Lightning with Danny and the T-Birds?  He wasn’t particularly old, but his signature leather jacket was wearing the way many a teddy’s leather nose has worn, and then the puppy got a hold of him and injured his eye.  So… his person thought it was time for him to fly from VA to CA for some surgery, a spa, and a new coat.  Here he is on arrival at the hospital:

In case you are curious, this is what his jacket looked like, once it was removed (it was actually sewn to create his arms and part of his body, more on that below):

So Bear came to the hospital with a donor for a new jacket, for some eye surgery and a gentle spa.  Here’s his bubble bath (even cool bears enjoy bubbles):

Then a bit of surgery.  His jacket was actually part of his body.  He had part of a white t-shirt for his chest, but the jacket made up his arms and his back, and connected his head and the bottom of his body.  So his jacket was removed, he got stuffed, and another jacket was carefully removed from the donor and transplanted onto Bear.  Here he is all cool again (and with 20/20 vision restored):

(I promise, that’s his tag not a hole on his bottom)

Bear flew back solo across the country and arrived safely in VA.  His family wrote:

He looks fantastic and we are so happy to have him back! Thank you so much for all of your wonderful work.

Gumdrop the blue teddy bear

I get lots of patients who are going bald in the hospital.  Many are down to the smooth fabric that was under their fur, with holes in that.  But I have to say, Gumdrop was probably the baldest.  He had worn not only to the fabric, but the fabric was gone and almost all that was left was a thin thread mesh over his foam stuffing… that and his eyes and nose and some scraps:

His person and I agreed the best solution would be to fully recover him (without a spa, as really, he was his stuffing).  But Gumdrop’s eyes and nose weren’t three dimensional, so stitching new fur around them wouldn’t be sturdy.  Instead, the plan was to carefully removed them, and put them back in place on top of his new fur.  (this only works for fabric features, and only sometimes).

Here were the fur options we found for him:

His person opted for the softer, shorter ply fleece.  Here’s Gumdrop all better and ready to fly home:

His person’s response: “Terrific!”

Meow with the custom fabric transplants

I’ve been so excited to share Meow’s story with you all! I mean, he’s a partial recover, and you’ve seen those before, but in this case, I used multiple fabrics to replicate his striped original fabric and I was really happy with how he came out… and so was his family. So, without further ado, may I present Meow!

Meow is a very small cat, maybe 7″ long? Less if he’s sitting. But he had been very well loved in his short life. His person’s uncle wrote to me, asking if I could help. Here is the diagnosis photo he sent:

Just fyi, his balding was also pretty serious on his back.

There were a few options for care, but treating his balding was definitely the most serious concern. In the end, his family opted for new eye, bald spot treatment with transplants but not a full recover, and a gentle spa, as well as wound repair.

So he flew to the hospital from Washington state, not too long a flight, and started his treatment with a spa:

Next, he got new eyes. His eyes were originally green – the cataracts were so bad, I couldn’t really tell the original color till I took out his eyes and looked on the backside of them. Here he is with vision restored to 20/20:

Next were transplants…. Perfect matches for striped fur are impossible without a donor (and sometimes even donors aren’t perfect). I’ve done transplants where we use the background fur color, and add black stripes for tigers (you’ve seen some of those here) but Meow’s stripes weren’t black. Sometimes we just use a solid close to one of the stripe colors in that case, and that was an option… and actually the plan for Meow. But then I had two fabrics which matched his two stripe colors really closely:

I talked with his family about it, and we agreed to mix the colors in the transplants… a little of one, a little of the other. But keep in mind, stripes on animals aren’t exact lines, so this wasn’t a case of making a fabric by sewing strips on a machine, and then using the new fabric. Each piece was chose, and shaped for the area where the bald spot was, and sewn in separately. It was more complicated than this surgery usually is, but also kind of meditative. 🙂

So… here is Meow all better! (He did get a heart btw, I just didn’t photo it)

His family was thrilled too. “He looks great!” they wrote. And Meow flew north and home.