This is a continuing entry in the irregular series of “Just a spa”. 🙂
This teddy bear had been washed in the past, when his person was a child, but even then he never looked brand new. And today, years later, Mr. Huggy (that’s his name) was definitely looking a bit worse for wear after all his hugs and adventures. Here are his diagnosis photos:
Fortunately, Mr. Huggy’s fur was in good shape. He had velcro on his hands (so he could hug) that was worn though. So his person and I agreed on a treatment plan of a gentle spa and velcro replacement. Here he is in his bubble bath (you can see he’s already brightening up):
Here’s his heart being made and installed with a bit of his original stuffing:
And here he is, all better! Clean, stuffed, fur fluffed, and with new velcro so he can hug again!
His person’s reaction when he flew home? “He’s absolutely perfect!”
As some of you who’ve been reading for some time know, in addition to stuffed animals, I also repair (and actually make) cloth dolls. This part of the hospital is rather specialized, mostly all cloth dolls, not ones with plastic parts or mobile eyes or hand knitted ones. My specialty is fabric (including faux fur, obviously), and that’s the equipment I have. But that does mean I get a lot of Raggedies. Raggedy Anns, Raggedy Annes (the name spelling really matters!) and Raggedy Andys. Today, I thought I’d share a story of a small handmade Raggedy Andy.
Andy had been loved for over twenty years when his person asked her mom to please get him fixed up. He had had a lot of adventures, and clearly some serious accidents! Here are his diagnosis photos:
And this is what he looked like as a young doll:
You can see that he’s lost his face, and his clothes. Even his sewn on shoes were wearing off. And he had more injuries to his limbs and torso. You can also see that Andy was custom made… his face and clothing were both different from commercial raggedies, as was his foot shape.
I couldn’t match his original jacket fabric, so I recommended his family choose a fabric they’d like and send that to the hospital with him. In addition to new clothes, and a new face, and other wound repair, he was going to get his shoes recovered and supplemental stuffing. Once he was in the hospital, we also agreed to recover the blue part of his hat (as it was quite worn, which is hard to see in the photos.
It took a bit of time, but soon, Andy was feeling more like himself. Here he is with his wounds repaired, new face, new pants, and new shoes:
You can see the torso and arm wounds were repaired, but the face is new. His pants button on, but his shoes (now velour) are sewn in place.
And here’s Andy all spiffy in his full new outfit, ready to fly home:
His family wrote when they saw the photos:
Oh my goodness this is fantastic!! He looks amazing. I cannot thank you enough!! I love his new face and his heart is still there. Thank you for salvaging all you could. His outfit is wonderful. Thank you Thank you!!
And when Andy made it home they said:
Andy arrived!! He looks amazing and just so incredible how he came back to life. I am so happy and cannot wait to surprise my daughter.
Amazing and just could cry. This is her most valued memory from childhood. Her Andy.
The other super sized patient I wanted to share with you from the recent large visitors to the hospital was a turtle. As some of you may know, either from older posts or close observation of some of the photos, I have two water turtles. They’re both female, both 25 years old, and they still lay eggs. 🙂 Anyway, so I have a soft spot for turtles, and there’s even a collection of stuffed animal turtles on top of my turtles’ tank. But none of those turtles match the size of the visitor to the hospital earlier this month!
Turtle actually had a pretty cool story. Here is what her person first wrote:
Hello To Whom It May Concern,
I am looking to get a childhood stuffed animal healed, I was pushed to donate it years ago when my family moved and by a twist of fate, recently ended up working at the institution it was donated to. It’s been a few years since the donation and in that time, kids have done a number on it. I have since gotten it back this past week after the people I donated it to no longer had need of it and would like to see it fixed up. It is an about three foot long and foot wide green sea turtle that needs to be cleaned up, have stuffing fixed up and replaced, and have new eyes put it.
Well, the first step, as always, was for me to see the turtle, and photos work well. Unfortunately, she was still in plastic to protect her (and her new home) from anything she might have caught in her years away, so there was an older photo of her, and then her bagged. :-\
It was enough to see her issues (lack of stuffing, blindness) and approximate size. We agreed a spa and new eyes would be the best treatment, and any small wounds not visible in the photos would get sewn up as well.
Fortunately, her person was only about an hour away, so he could bring her in person (for contactless drop off) because given her size, travel could have far exceeded treatment cost!
She started with unstuffing and a spa. No spa photos because when patients are that big, their spa photos just look like a pile of fabric, especially if there are no eyes as in Turtle’s case.
Once dry and partially restuffed, it was time to choose a style for her new eyes. Here were the three options:
Her person chose the last… a plastic eye with felt backing and lid. So her vision was restored and restuffing continued (it takes a LOT of stuffing for a patient her size). Here’s her heart with original stuffing going in:
And here are the first photos to judge chubbiness (so she had open seams so I could adjust):
Her person said she should be strong/dense enough to hold the weight of an adult human, so I added more stuffing, closed her up, and she was ready to go home. While she waited for her human to come get her, she made friends with one of my turtles:
You can really see how big she is here! My turtle is about 10″ long.
Turtle went home and is now happily ensconced back with her original family and friends:
Her person wrote “She’s better than I ever could have hoped!”
Morgan style dogs were around in the late 50s through the 70s (at least). They were very popular in the 60s. My mom has one that was brown from the 60s, and when I was little I had my own pink Morgan dog. There’s a photo somewhere of me sitting on it as a baby. So I have lots of references when a Morgan comes to the hospital, because both of those dogs are still around.
Frisbee’s person wrote several years ago asking for help. At the time, he was about 60 years old, which dated him to the 50s. Here’s his first diagnosis photo. His person was hoping to have him cleaned and rejuvenated:
The plan for Frisbee was a spa (color separation required), Fully recovering his brown areas), stitching up wounds and new eyes.
He started with a spa (no photo because he was a bit embarrassed that his muzzle wasn’t on for safety).
Next, we had to decide on his new fur for his brown bits. There were a couple of good options:
His person opted for the longer fur. Once recovered, he got restuffed with new, modern stuffing and a heart of his original stuffing included:
You can see why he’d lost weight by how compressed the old stuffing was.
Next were his eyes. Unfortunately, there weren’t good young Frisbee photos, and Morgan dog eyes vary a lot! First, I tried using his existing eye remnants as a reference:
Not quite right (although his new fur was a hit!)… he needed plastic pupils, and a different shape. So we went through many options:
That first photo (which was the last try) was the one! Finally, Frisbee’s vision was restored to 20/20 and he was ready to go home:
“Perfect!!!!” said his person!
Frisbee’s person actually drove up to pick him up. He’s been home over a year now, and is happily ensconced at home:
Have you ever seen muttsy dogs? I may have talked about some here. Most are a tannish color, about 15″ long, with faux suede pawpads. They look like they’re reaching their arms up to be hugged when they are young. They’re never really plump… they’re a skinnier breed. Well, today I thought I’d tell you the story of a Muttsy dog from Canada, with a bonus at the end of a giant Muttsy (the biggest I’ve seen at least) who went home last week.
First up, Joey the Muttsy from Canada. He was a pretty typical muttsy in size and shape, though no animal is typical in memory or history, and Joey was no exception there. Every animal holds the memories and stories of their person or people.
Here are Joey’s diagnosis photos:
As you can see, he had some significant balding on his back and pawpads, a bit of balding in front, and quite a bit of weight loss from stuffing compression due to age and hugs. His person is one of you dear readers, and she was starting to worry about him.
Now given the localization of his balding, some people opt for fur transplants just on bald spots. But Joey’s person felt, after 35 years, he deserved a full spa and a full new coat of fur, to make him sturdy and clean and plump and fluffy again. So that was the plan. We scheduled an appointment and he flew down from Canada.
The first step was the spa, so he of course had a bubble bath photo:
I think he kind of looks like he’s doing a doggie paddle here. 🙂
Once he was dry, it was time to choose his new fur. I wait till after the spa so you can see the fur in comparison to his own fur in a clean and as fluffy as possible condition. There were a couple of options:
His human opted for the slightly darker fur. I went ahead and started restuffing and recovering him. Of course he got a heart preserving a bit of his original stuffing. I like to think the hearts help them hold all the memories:
Now as I mentioned, Muttsy style dogs usually have a faux suede or faux leather (or sometimes real leather) footpad. Joey’s surviving footpads showed they weren’t real leather original, so these were the options for the soles of Joey’s feet:
His person went for the faux suede. Here he is, all better and once more reaching out his arms for hugs:
Joey flew home to Canada, and his person wrote:
He just got home! Looks fantastic, thank you so much for your careful work!
But I did promise a bonus at the end of Joey’s story. The largest Muttsy I’ve ever seen in the hospital.:-) This Muttsy is named Mutsie, and she is 28 inches long, 38″ including her tail, which is also stuffed!
You can see her here next to her warm blooded sibling, which gives you an idea of both her size, and the compression of her stuffing and flattening of her fur which were concerning her person:
She was in pretty good shape otherwise, so her person was looking for a spa for her. Here she is starting her bubble bath:
Of course she got a heart with some original stuffing when she got restuffed:
And here she is getting her chubbiness approved: clean, stuffed, fur fluffed but with an open seam to adjust as needed:
Her person said:
Yes she looks perfect! It’s so nice to see her all cleaned up and refreshed, thank you so much!
So I closed her up and she flew home to Arizona (in a much bigger box than she arrived in, because she was so much plumper and fluffier!).
A couple months ago I received an email from Mimming’s person in Singapore. Mimming is an almost 40 year old teddy bear, and she’s been very well loved… and hugged.
This is what Mimming looked like when she was young:
And this is what she looked like at the start of 2023:
As you can see, she lost a lot of weight and fur from hugs over the years. Her eyes have cataracts (you’ll see those better later), her nose is dangling due to muzzle shrinkage, and she has some pretty significant wounds she usually keeps under her shirt. But she’s still a very cuddly bear with an endearing expression.
Her person was hoping to get Mimming recovered in new fur, so she could be hugged and have adventures for at least 40 more years. A new nose and new eyes were under consideration, and we agreed starting with a spa (especially since her stuffing was so compressed, was probably in order. So… Mimming found a flight with her buddy Little Mimming to keep her company (you’ll see her later) and headed across the Pacific to CA. While Mimming is well travelled, this was a first solo Pacific flight, and so it was bit scary, hence the company. It actually took less than a week for her to arrive!
She started with her bubble bath, that way new fur would match her cleaned fur color.
You can see her cataracts, particularly in her right eye, and how loose and chipped her nose is here.
Next was deciding if she would get a new nose and eyes, or keep her originals. Turns out, there were many nose options. Smooth like nose, flocked/velvety, size differences:
Her person opted for a new, velvety, triangular nose. For her eyes, there was really only one option, new or not. I can usually get pretty good color matches, but Mimming’s eyes had also faded, so new eyes would be a touch brighter. Once eyes or a nose come out, they can’t go back in, and with recovering it’s best to remove them before recovering, so this was a decision that needed to be made before fur choice. Here’s the eye option next to her original eye:
Mimming’s person opted for two new eyes. We agreed to preserve her old eyes and nose in her heart with a bit of her stuffing. But first, she needed new fur. Here were some of the white fur options:
Mimming’s person went with the thick white faux fur, and surgery proceeded. For her brown patch, I had furs to match all of the white fur options, so we were all set there.
Here’s her heart being made and installed:
And here are the first photos of Mimming in all new fur. She still has open seams, so her chubbiness can be adjusted:
While she sits naturally like in her baby photos, she can also lay flat like she could when she arrived. Chubbiness approved, Mimming got dressed and went outside for a photo shoot. She was well traveled, but had never been to California, and she wanted some photos as souvenirs. Little Mimming joined her for the photo shoot (those were the first tulips of the season):
And those adorable knitted overalls? Those are Mimming’s regular travel clothes that she arrived in. Good thing that knit stretches. I particularly liked the little teddy bear buttons to hold the straps.
Mimming and Little Mimming flew home and again, it was a fast trip, just 5 days! Here they are safe and sound, albeit a little jet lagged, with their friends:
Her person wrote:
Thank you so much!! She looks amazing! We are so happy we got to spend the rest of our lifetime with her – another 40+ years!! Thank you Doctor Beth for taking great care of her. You’re such a blessing to all of us! Praying for your good health and good life. Stay happy and blessed!
This dragon came to the stuffed animal hospital for repair and cleaning. He’s rainbow bright and a happy story with a great transformation. 🙂
The dragon’s person first called, then wrote:
Hi!
I talked with Beth yesterday about my 50 year old psychedelic dragon. I have enclosed pictures, and I hope you can help restore him. The main problems I see are:
His neck is broken and now flops around.
He used to have red, orange, and yellow flames coming out of his mouth, but these were pulled out by my daughter about 15 years ago.
His eyes need repainting.
He used to have pieces of felt under the plastic eyes that formed “eyelashes”.
His tail is now too floppy.
Needs cleaning.
Let me know what you think. Also, my Dragon is fully covered by his PPO health insurance, so hospitalization won’t be an issue !! Thank you for your time.
Well, after a checkup, it was decided that the dragon would fly up from SoCal for a spa and some surgery. Here he is on arrival at the hospital:
As you can see, his internal structure broke so he couldn’t hold up his head or out his tail. His eyes had lost both their lashes, and their blood vessels and parts of their pupils. His spine scales were down to nubs. And he’d lost his fire breathing skills!
First step was unstuffing. This also involved removing the old spine scales and internal wires that were supposed to hold his neck up. Then a bubble bath:
His nostrils were stubborn. They had seen too much smoke and wouldn’t clean, so we ended up replacing them too.
Next was restuffing with new polyfiber stuffing. His old stuffing was a disintegrating combination of fluff and styrofoam. Still, some went in a heart (with matching rainbow hearts) to be reinstalled:
Next his spine scale frame went on before the heart went in (the spine scales aren’t cut out yet):
(you can see one of my jigsaws in the background – they’re great practice for reassembling patients that have been attacked by pets). 🙂
Then I worked on his eyelashes – remember this is before:
And this is after:
Then his eyes themselves were taken care of:
And he got his fire breathing back:
Some new sparkly white nostrils and he was feeling himself again:
Who can resist that face? Not me!
He needed an extra long box to fly home, given his now straight neck and tail, and I had a perfect one just for him:
The Psychedelic Dragon flew home. He made it home safely and his person wrote:
Dragon looks unbelievable! You did a wonderful job repairing him, and I love how your ideas worked out. I cannot express in words how pleased I am. Thanks for bringing a part of my past back to life! Only the best for you and your business in the future.
There once was a bear from Oakland, who’d lost his arms and his nose in the past. He flew across the Bay to have his wounds repaired.
Here’s Teddy on arrival at the teddy bear repair hospital:
Not only was his nose missing, but he originally had a little white muzzle as well. Here is the baby photo his person sent:
So we started with a little spa:
Then restuffed him adding new shoulder and neck joints. Of course he got a heart with a bit of his original stuffing, too:
Then the next step was reconstructing his white muzzle, giving him a new nose and mouth.
A bit of a fluff and he was ready to fly home.
He took the short flight across the Bay and his person wrote:
Brown bear is happily reunited with his 40+ year old childhood friend Nicolino (an ancestor of the teletubbies). Being a globe trotter and world citizen he enjoyed spending time at the hospital with other stuffed animals from around the world. Since he came back he has been raving about the spa and is trying to convince Nicolino to get one in the near future! Thank you again for your loving care!
Chubby’s an avid cycler. She rides far and wide with her human family. They wrote:
Our cow, Chubby (full name: Chubby Cow Bra – named after her first mountain bike ride in 2006; the Chupacabra Race), has spent the last 11 years riding mountain bikes with my wife and me. (She usually rides on my back.) She had a nose job a few years ago, but now her back and her horns are getting extremely worn.
Can you do this sort of operation? How long do you think she would be in the hospital? What’s the best way to get her there? Do you have an estimate for the operation (I don’t think she’s covered under my medical insurance)?
We agreed the best treatment would be a spa, followed by lining of the most worn areas on her back and forehead, wound stitching, and recovering her horns. Here she is on arrival at the spa:
We started her with a spa to remove road dirt:
Then she got lining with new stuffing and a heart (pink and white like her)… you can see how much better her back is already:
I double checked her horn fabric. Her family had sent the same fabric used on her nose, but her nose had faded a lot in the sun:
She had a birthday while she was here, and got a card in the mail:
Horn fabric approved, her horns were recovered and her chubbiness checked:
A bit too chubby – too much stuffing flavored birthday cake – she went on a crash diet so she could be just right to fly home:
Chubby arrived home yesterday. Her family wrote:
Thanks again, Dr Beth. Chubby just got in, and she looks fantastic. She’s looking forward to seeing all her old friends and going on a bike ride on Saturday.
An update from Chubby received this morning:
Hi Dr Beth!
The Boy let me use his phone so I could tell you I’m fine. I’m even back to mountain biking with The Girl and The Boy! Thanks again for the spa and skin graft. The Boy noticed I also put on some weight, which means I can sit up straighter now. I hope all of your other spa guests are doing welll. Feel free to tell others about my visit! I really loved my bath!
George was in the hospital for over a month. He is a very little blue bunny, maybe 5 inches tall when he’s sitting. He is in his thirties and was a victim, as his person said, of “an extreme dog mauling”. This is what George looked like when he arrived at the hospital:
and when I opened his bag, and separated George from the stuffing, this was what I found:
Good thing I like jigsaw puzzles! The first step was to clean George’s parts, so when he went home, he wouldn’t be as attractive to the dog:
Here he is in the spa:
He’s really in there!
Once George was dry, I started putting him together. He originally had pink checked lining for his ears and bottom feet, and a worn area on his chest that looked like a heart. So I had ordered new pink checks for him, and we had agreed to use white fur for the heart. Here is George when he first started to come together. (If you look closely, you can see one of the jigsaw puzzles I was working on in the top left corner.)
The next step was to fill in George’s blanks (fur transplants), order him new eyes, and start restuffing him. I ordered eyes from Canada and China for George. Here were some of the options:
Here are the ones his person chose first going in:
Next was the filling. George initially had a little gray bag of walnut shells in his tush (probably what attracted the dog). So first I made him a new walnut bag.
And here it is going in:
Next George got a little heart with a bit of his original stuffing:
Then he got put back together, had his new eyes adjusted, and even got a new nose. The goal was to keep as much of George’s original fur and skin visible as possible, but to make him healthy and sturdy enough to keep his person comfy at night and bring pleasant dreams. Here he is waiting for his flight home:
He has some scars, but he sure did earn them! And he’s all set for decades more hugs!
