Have you heard of My Pet Monster? It’s a cartoon from 1986, which had one season. You can stream it if you like. But for the purposes of this story, the most important fact is that the star was a very colorful smily, monster. And in January of last year, one of the cuddly plush versions was discovered in the back of a closet (so I guess he was a moonlighting as a closet monster?). He had clearly had a rough time in the closet. So his person wrote to the Realms of Gold Stuffed Animal hospital for help. Here is one of his diagnosis photos:
You can see the wound on his chest, and that his teeth are coming out. His feet and hands were vinyl, and had gotten that sticky feel that old vinyl sometimes gets…. and he needed a bath!
It took almost a year, but in December, the monster’s family wrote again. Could we schedule treatment and an appointment for him?
Of course! The hospital was pretty full at the beginning of the year (not uncommon) so we scheduled his appointment for early March.
He arrived and the first step was a spa. He’s quite large, so he got the large pink tub. 🙂
Next he got restuffed, with a heart of original stuffing included … who knows where his magic is stored, so it’s important to keep at least a bit of original stuffing!
For his feet and hands, I can’t replicate the printed nails on vinyl, but we didn’t really want to do vinyl again anyway for the feel. So his person and I agreed to recover his feet and hands in new black velvet and then give him new nails from felt in the same teal as the originals. Here he is showing off his manicure and pedicure:
And here he is all better… even his fabric surrounding his tusks has been reglued:
Last week I told you about Poochie the dog, who was in his sixties and came in to be stabilized. Today, I’m going to share Bearie’s story. Bearie is a 70 year old panda bear, and he was getting ready to go live with his original person’s daughter. Here are Bearie’s original diagnosis photos which were sent to the stuffed animal hospital earlier this year:
Like Poochie’s family, Bearie’s family wanted to keep some of his original self visible, but since he was eventually going to be loved by a new person, he needed more stabilization, and a bath and new stuffing as well!
There aren’t photos of Bearie in the bath… spas for black and white patients of his age are major surgery, because their colors need to be separated for safe cleaning. But I did clean him, and restuff him. Then, he was recovered in new fur on his head, torso, and limbs. This left his original ears and pawpads visible. He kept his original eye, and hand a new nose and mouth embroidered. Rather than replacing his missing eye, he got a removable eye patch. Here he is before we added his new mouth:
Poochie the stuffed dog is over 60 years old, about 7 or 8″ tall, and very well loved. He’s had repairs before to his shoulders, and he’d been wearing a red dress for years to try to protect his skin from further wear. His person (his original person) wrote to they stuffed animal hospital. They wanted to keep him as close to original as possible, but also wanted to stabilize and reinforce him. Here are his original diagnosis photos, sent by another family member:
I’m showing larger versions in the hopes that you can see not only his holes, but the runs where his fabric is see through.
Poochie came to the hospital last month for wound repair and supplemental stuffing… just a touch to protect him on the inside. He wasn’t getting a spa, he needed to stay as original as possible. And we were keeping old repairs where possible too. Rather, the treatment for Poochie was to stitch wounds, adding fabric under his runs to take the pressure of stitches, and patches where he had holes. Just enough to stabilize him. He wasn’t going on adventures with toddlers anymore, but he wanted to feel safe watching over his family. Here’s Poochie all better:
He’s sort of like a kintsugi vase with its visible seams, or an older person, whose wrinkles and gray hairs tell their story. Poochie earned every scar and new seam, but he’s huggable and lovable specifically for those patches and seams, which are reminders of all the adventures he’s had. And now, he can be hugged again and share his memories (and make new ones) with his family in Washington.
Bearsy the care bear’s person’s original email to the teddy bear hospital included a brief bio of the cheerful lavender bear:
When I was 4 years old my mom bought me this bear that I have loved for the past 18 years. It has travelled to 3 different countries w/ me and I’ve slept with it every night of my life. Bearsy has seen better days. I’ve already sewn up the cheek seams, back of the neck, and back of the head. I’m now noticing more tears on the neck as well as some on her belly. She also has had all the paint on her eyes scratched off my 4 year old me. After years of being hugged her stuffing has deflated a lot. She has some bald patches and what remains of her fur I nuzzle my face on.
Here are the diagnosis photos she sent:
As you can see, Bearsy’s applique and smile are very important parts of her, but her fur had worn to almost all backing, and her person was hoping to restore the original texture. So we agreed to recover Bearsy, transplanting the appliques onto the new fabric.
Her person also wanted her to enjoy a spa, and have her vision restored while she was here. It took a couple of months for Bearsy to work up the courage to fly all the way across the country to California, but she did, and she quite enjoyed her bubble bath on arrival:
While she was drying, I ordered special lavender fur for her, and we agreed on her new eyes. Soon, she was soft and fuzzy again with her new fur and ready to be restuffed and of course she got a heart with her original stuffing:
And here she is all better, with her transplanted smile and belly applique, all new fur, and 20/20 vision.
She flew home to Pennsylvania and her person wrote:
Bearsy is home!! Thank you so so much for taking care of her. I can’t wait to have many more years of adventures and snuggles with her. Thank you for breathing life back into her.
Teddy belongs to a 3 year old who was very concerned by his run-in with the puppy. Even before her mom wrote to me, the little girl believed Teddy was at the doctor and being well taken care of. She thought Teddy would be quite comfy, because he clearly had been to a doctor before based on his belly band-aid. Here is his diagnosis photo:
And here is what he was supposed to look like:
Clearly, Teddy needed his little head pouch reattached, eye socket repairs with new fur, and two new eyes (they had his original eyes but they were too damaged to reinstall). As time is of the essence particularly when a three year old is involved, we did not schedule Teddy for a spa, just surgery.
So… he came to the hospital and I had near perfect fabric match for his eye sockets. Coloring his new eyes took a little time (they need to dry thoroughly before being installed and as it was rainy here, it took a little longer), but within the week he was ready to fly home. Here he is, just before he flew home to MN:
His person’s mom wrote:
Oh my goodness, thank you!!!!! We will have one for pleased little girl.
and when he made it home, the family wrote:
I wanted to thank you for restoring our F’s teddy bear, I could barely get her to bed last night because she couldn’t stop hugging him & talking to him. You did excellent work & it brought a lot of joy! Cheers
Back in August a gentleman reached out to the stuffed animal hospital about his wife’s giant panda, Edward (Eddie) Bear. He wasn’t just giant by breed, but he was actually a giant at about 5 feet from head to toe. He was hoping to get the teddy bear cleaned and repaired.
Here are some diagnosis photos:
In addition to stuffing compression, Eddie had quite a few seam issues, and some (not visible) tears. He came to the hospital for a spa and wound repair. Here he is in his bubble bath (he gets the giant tub).:-)
Restuffing took quite a few adjustments to get his shape right, but soon he was restuffed, fur fluffed, wounds repaired, and ready to head home:
Now Eddie headed home and his family was very happy! They wrote:
“Thank you so much, Beth, for providing the excellent care that our boy needed and deserved.
S and I are 100% satisfied with his outcome, so much cleaner, much less slouched and his wounds are all fully healed.
I wonder how many people realize and act on their true calling in life.
I believe I do with my wood working, and I know you do with Realms of Gold.”
Nice, yes? But even better… a few weeks later the gentleman’s wife reached out. Now that Eddie was better, she wanted to get her husband’s companion, Mr. Monkey repaired. She wrote:
“First off let me start by telling you how happy Les and I are with the care you gave Eddie Bear. He is like new again and we are so pleased!
Sooo, it got me thinking about Mr. Monkey. Mr. Monkey is Les’ child and has definitely seen better days. I have my doubts as to whether he can be helped because of the shape he is in. But I thought it was worth a try to inquire.”
Here are his diagnosis photos, and if you’ve been a long time reader of my blog, you may guess my response… he’s not nearly as bad as you think and we can definitely help him!
The plan was a spa and recovering Mr. Monkey’s brown. The brown area was originally knitted (which I don’t repair), but we agreed recovering it in a fur or fabric would add to his stability without changing his personality. So he came to the hospital and….
Here he is in his spa:
Much tinier than Eddie, Mr. Monkey is slightly bigger than a hand!
Of course Mr. Monkey (and Eddie) got hearts of original stuffing… here are the two hearts:
There were several fabric options for Mr. Monkey’s brown, and his people opted for a thin minky fur. Here he is all better!
Mr. Monkey headed home and when he arrived his family wrote:
“Mr. Monkey is home safe and sound! He looks GREAT! He said he enjoyed being at the hospital, getting such great care from you! By the way he talks, I think he’s quite smitten with you! He says he’ll miss you!
Anyway, we can’t thank you enough for your TLC and expertise!
Don’t you love the red bow tie? It came on a Christmas gift and L snatched it and saved it for when Mr. Monkey returned home. ”
And here he is looking spiffy in that new bow tie!
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’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:
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.
