Realms of Gold Doll & Stuffed Animal Hospital Blog @doctorbeth - Tumblr Blog

A local teddy bear

A lot of my patients fly in solo, from all over the globe. But this one was a local bear who needed help.

You can see he’s pretty chubby, but he’d lost some stuffing from gravitational settling, particularly on his head and joints. His seams were suffering from the expansion (not just the ones in the photo). These were all treatable issues. He did have some light scarring on the side of his face from a previous accident, but the fur still felt nice, so treating it would be more invasive, and so I didn’t recommend that.

It took some time for him to come in, because his person, who is quite young, wasn’t ready for him to be gone for long, and so not only were there timing issues, but there was a question as to whether to have him cleaned as well, which would extend his stay. Eventually, everyone was ready and one Wednesday afternoon, after his youngster’s school, he was dropped off.

He started his care with the spa:

All new stuffing once he was dry relieved the lumpiness in his pre-op photos. But he still got a small amount of original stuffing in a heart in his chest:

Once restuffed, it was time to minimize his older seam scarring, and tighten up his other seams. Here he is, all better:

He went home to a very happy little girl and her family. They wrote:

He looks fantastic and D is so happy to have him back looking and feeling like new.

Thank you so much for your work on this.

They also asked for his story to be shared, so this is for D and her teddy bear. :-)

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#stuffed animal repair #stuffed animal hospital #stuffed animal cleaning #teddy bear repair #teddy bear cleaning #teddy bear hospital #teddy bears #teddy bear

Towers the Giraffe

Sometimes I’m a full fledged surgeon, but sometimes I’m just an ophthalmological surgeon who provides a bit of spa relaxation on the side. That was the story for Towers.

His person wrote to me:

My sweet baby Towers suffered an incident. I am a college student, but nonetheless, I love my stuffed animals to death. I woke up this morning to find my 2004 Ty Giraffe Towers missing an eye. Thankfully, I do have the eye (and it is beat up, but if possible, I would like to keep him looking the same). I was hoping to get an estimate to fix the socket and fix it, and maybe since he is aging, give him a few good meals. I have been too scared to wash him for years, so maybe a bath would be nice. I would like him to not change too much. I teethed on his little top nubs that now look like sick dreads, I would like those to stay the same, just maybe sew up the bottoms so the top of his head isn't exposed. I have literally had this stuffed animal since the day I was born, and I care too much about him to lose him so finding your page seems like a true miracle.

As you can see, his eye actually broke off at the post, so he would need a new eye, but it is a fairly common style and I thought we could find a good match. He had also lost some of the posture in his spine, and had had quite a few grimy adventures, so we also agreed on a spa for his visit.

Here he is in his bubble bath:

You can already see his color coming back!

Once he was dry, he got restuffed including his small heart of original stuffing:

Next was the eye. We could keep the healthier eye, and just replace the damaged one, which is what you can see in this photo.

But the difference between a healthy shiny eye and an aged older eye is pretty obvious, so his person opted for two new eyes.

Here he is, getting his chubbiness approved. I always send photos of patients before they are closed up, so we can adjust chubbiness as needed. In this case, he has his new eyes, but his spine is open:

Those bottom two photos are me squishing him to show how dense his new stuffing is.

Towers got approved and flew home to Tennessee. She sent this photo of Towers back safely home:

And she wrote:

He made it home!! He looks so amazing - I am so happy!! Never in my childhood did he ever look this great. Thank you!! You are a true miracle worker!!

Towers wanted me to tell you:

“I had a great time at the hospital, thank you for taking such good care of me. I’ve never been out that far west before and it was a great fun trip! I hope me and my human can go out there soon!! Again thank you for making me feel better!! I’m so happy to be youthful again :)”

Again, eternally grateful for you! Greatful that you posted to NOT superglue eyes back in (because Towers then would have a bigger problem). I appreciate all you did for my boy. Thank you for bringing the joy in my childhood back to life again.

It’s always awesome when the patients themselves add a comment.:-) And yes, I still do say no to superglue on patients! It just doesn’t come off and can seriously damage fabric. :-(

#stuffed animal repair #stuffed animal hospital #stuffed animal cleaning #stuffed animals #giraffe #giraffes #toy giraffe

White Bear's Rejuvenation for a new generation

White Bear's family wrote asking for help for their 40 year old bear last summer. He had visited the hospital over a decade ago, but after years with a new generation, it was time for a new treatment. Here are his diagnosis photos:

He had a bit of wear, but mostly on his front. The original plan was a spa and then transplants for his full front white areas, with a check in before deciding whether to treat his legs and back.

Here he is in his bubble bath:

There were two options for his new fur, longer and shorter:

His person opted for the longer fur. I treated his front side and the back of his head (the areas with the most balding), and sent photos:

His family wrote:

Wow, Beth! He’s so sweet. I agree, we can recover his back and legs like you recommend. I love that the brown (ears, nose, and paws) and eyes are shining through as the original and that’s good for us. Thank you for asking.

Here he is all better!

His family wrote "He's perfect!" So he flew home (not far, still in CA). And then in December, they wrote about another patient coming to the hospital. The last line of the email:

White Bear is holding up well! We appreciate you fixing White Bear earlier this year!

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#stuffed animal repair #stuffed animal hospital #teddy bear repair #teddy bear hospital #teddy bear cleaning #stuffed animal cleaning #stuffed animals #plushies #teddy bear #teddy bears #polar bear

Benny Bunny

Last summer I received this email:

Recently on my podcast I was talking about my beloved childhood bestie, Benny Bunny. My dog got him many years ago and chewed some of his face. Plus he’s missing an ear.

A listener had you restore something for her and she shared your info!

He’s a vintage Gund. I would LOVE more than anything to have him restored.

This is the first time (that I know of) that someone found me through a podcast! :-)

Here are the original diagnosis photos she sent. Benny, btw, is over 50 years old!

We agreed on a treatment plan that included: a spa, facial reconstruction, recovering his cotton areas (torso, limbs,inner ears), replacing his missing ear, repairing the surviving ear, stitching other wounds, a new pompom nose, reinstalling his original eye, and a new vest.

So Benny flew in last fall and started his treatment with the spa. It's always first, especially if there will be transplants, because I want to match the furs as close as possible to the clean and fluffed fur.

You can see he needed the bath!

Next up was choosing a new cotton fabric. We knew there wouldn't be a match for the original, and Benny's person had seen lots of his relatives, all with different fabrics, so that wasn't an issue. The realm of options was wide open. Here are some I sent:

I was looking for ones that were a bit funky, maybe a bit seventies like Benny himself. His person chose those last flowers, which were actually my favorites for him too. I'd had that fabric a while, and he was the perfect patient for it. So, surgery proceeded.

Soon, Benny was getting his heart installed:

That little bit of green was from a repair done by his person's grandma way back when her brother had ripped his leg!

Benny was coming along nicely. New clothes, face wound repaired, eye reinstalled, ears treated. And we were up to the nose. We went through several options (both before and after his eye was installed):

In the end, Benny just wasn't Benny with any of them, so his person decided to leave the nose off. So all that was left was his new vest. It should be a color that looked nice with his clothes... his person opted for an orange velour. Here he is, healthy and happy and ready to fly home:

Benny Bunny flew back cross country to his home in NY and his person wrote:

Omg Beth!!

I’m so happy. He looks and feels so good. I can’t thank you enough for giving me back this special friend.

What you do brings so much joy.

Thank you!!

You're both very welcome! :-)

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#stuffed animal hospital #stuffed animal repair #stuffed animal cleaning #stuffed animal clothes #bunny #rabbit #toy bunny #toy rabbit #plush #stuffed animals #plush bunny #plush rabbit

Fred Ted's Rejuvenation

I have a very long queue of animal's stories that I may tell someday... almost 400 at last count! So today I decided to go back a ways in the queue and revisit a patient who what here several years ago, but whose story I never got around to writing. I treat hundreds of patients each year, and I don't tell all their stories. If I tried to tell every story a) you'd get bored (you don't need to see every spa!) and b) I'd never have time to treat the patients! But anyway, it is kind of fun to go back in the queue and remember old friends/patients. I hope you enjoy them too!

Without further ado:

I received this email one day:

Please meet Fred Ted. He's a very much loved and treasured teddy bear who is approximately 33 years old. Besides being loved by a girl named M, he was also much loved by her two dogs, Jackson and Belle.

Here were Fred Ted's diagnosis photos:

And here's a dog who loves him:

Fred Ted's family (human and canine) sent him to the hospital for a spa, muzzle reconstruction, a new nose, new eyes (old ones were quite chipped), new mouth, and bald spot treatment.

Here he is in his bubble bath:

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

I had a near perfect fur color match for his bald spots once he was clean:

And so surgery continued. Without any evidence of his original mouth, I sent a sketch of options for his person to choose from:

Soon, he was feeling his old self and ready to return home:

He looks amazing, thank you! wrote his family.

So Fred Ted flew home to MO. His family wrote:

Fred arrived back home safely today and he looks great! Thanks ever so much!

Hope you and your canine and human family are all doing well Fred Ted!

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#teddy bear #teddy bears #teddy bear hospital #teddy bear cleaning #teddy bear repair #dog

Paddington Bear vs... THE DOG!

This Paddington Bear took a wrong turn in his travels and had a rather unfortunate run-in with a much larger dog:

He was stripped, injured, and his coat was partially eaten. He came to the hospital quite quickly on an emergency referral where we began his treatment with a spa. You don't want any germs in the wounds when they heal!

He looks like he's enjoying himself! wrote his person.

Next he got restuffed including his heart of original stuffing:

(if you look closely, you can see his chart in the last photo -- every patient has one).

His person wrote: Awww. How sweet!

Then everything had to be reattached properly, starting with his ears:

Soon he was all better. The first photos kept his jacket as it was, stitched up, edges smoothed, but still missing a bit.

His person checked them out and opted to get his jacket repaired too.

Soon, he was fully clothed and ready for a new set of adventures in his now slightly patched blue coat:

He took a short flight to SoCal and his person wrote:

Paddington is home! Thank you for his wonderful care! I will keep a keener eye on him from now on.

And I hope he's still having adventures, just not with the dog!

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#paddington #paddington bear #paddington the bear #paddington clothes #stuffed animal hospital #stuffed animal cleaning #stuffed animal repair #teddy bear #teddy bears #teddy bear hospital #teddy bear repair #teddy bear cleaning #stuffed animal clothes #teddy bear clothes #teddy bear clothing #stuffed animal clothing

Zhuzhu the blue pig

Zhuzhu lives on the other side of the world, in Singapore! Her person first contacted me a few years ago about her deteriorating condition. Here are her first diagnosis photos:

Her person wrote:

I'm writing to get an estimate for a well-loved and threadbare stuffed pig, who is currently more hole than pig. The fabric has been worn so thin that it breaks, and her previous surgeon (my grandmother) said that it would be very difficult to fix because the fabric can't hold a stitch.

Fortunately, Zhu Zhu did have a bit of protection that was keeping her together at the time:

There were a few options for her care. Spa, patching holes, lining, recovering. It took a couple of years to decide (flying solo halfway around the world is scary!) but eventually Zhuzhu's person decided to send her to California for a spa and full recover. It was the best bet for Zhuzhu to survive for future generations to love.

Here is Zhuzhu in her bubble bath:

There were a few choices for her new skin, and her person opted for French terry like she had originally. It was a really close color match. Her original eyes were going on top of the new fabric, but she would get new nostrils, and she was opting for plumper rather than skinnier, so she could take more hugs. Here's Zhuzhu just before she got closed up to fly back around the globe:

Look at that happy smile! and her person agreed. Yes! Perfect they wrote.

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#stuffed animal repair #stuffed animal cleaning #toy pig #pig #stuffed pig #plush pig

A sad dog gets his smile back

Toby's person wrote earlier this year:

hello, inquiring about a stuffed animal repair. it is severely damaged. i have yet to see any pictures on any repair websites that show before and after pictures to the extent my stuffed animal is but i am desperate for a repair. this is toby, my stuffed dog that was my moms and then became mine. he's survived many puppies and a child with pulling ocd (me). he is in three pieces, head body and tail, he's missing eyes and ears and nose. i'm not looking for a full reconstruction but at least to have the parts that are off put back on, holes sewn up and new stuffing. thank you for your time,

a sad sad stuffy owner

and here was the sad puppy's photo:

Now, clearly Toby's person hadn't seen this blog :-) because this type of treatment is actually fairly common. Plus, Toby is a beagle, and I'm a beagle person, so of course I was going to make him better! Though it wouldn't have matter if he was an alien, or an ocelot, or a quoll, I would still have helped. :-)

The plan was to clean Toby up, then put him back together. He'd need new eyes, ears, nose, his little tongue restored and his tail reattached, in addition to internal organ transplant (stuffing) and other various wound repairs. He'd be in the hospital for 6-7 weeks, but then he'd be whole and healthy and ready for more hugs and adventures.

He flew in and started with his spa:

Once he was clean and dry, I started putting him back together. His person had one photo of him when he was younger, which did help a bit:

There were constant emails back and forth. Is this the right nose? How's this for ear material? Do the eyes look the right size? But after several surgeries and adjustments, soon Toby was feeling like his old happy self again. Here he is all better and ready to howl with the rest of the hounds.

He flew home to Florida and his person wrote:

i really don't have the words to explain the huge amount of relief and happiness this whole experience has given me. i can say it helped heal a part of my childhood that i didn't think could be salvaged and im beyond happy i was able to entrust my lifelong friend to bet; this experience was nothing short of magical. thank you so much from me and toby. i can tell you truly care about your craft and i hope you can bring this amount of joy to best friends for so many years to come.

Enjoy each other's company for many more happy years... and Toby, my beagle says Arrrrooooo!

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#stuffed animal repair #stuffed animal cleaning #stuffed animal hospital #stuffed animal reconstruction #beagle #beagle toy #toy beagle #toy dog #stuffed dog #plush dog #plush beagle #stuffies #beagles

Blue Bear and the Artist -- a long but worthwhile story!

I'm so sorry it's been so long... longer than I realized actually. This time of year is always crazy with a ton of patients for the holidays... and I don't even ship patients later in December because travel times become incredibly unpredictable and having your best stuffed buddy stuck en route for an unspecified time is much worse than unsettling. And believe it or not, the hospital is currently booked into March, which is further out than usual by several weeks. So... all told very busy.

All that said, I've been waiting to tell you this story since Blue Bear first arrived at the hospital, and now I finally have the time to share it!

So, usually I don't know if I'll share a story till the patient is better. The stories are all about their transformations, and their family's responses, and who knows what those will be like till they're better? But Blue Bear is different because when he arrived at the hospital, this was in the box with him:

Blue Bear's person drew Blue Bear being treated by my Teddy as a nurse! I actually had one of those nurse's hats as a little kid (I'm sure Teddy remembers it). I was so so touched and I love not just the concept, but the art itself. Needless to say there is now a blue frame around the photo and it is hanging in the hospital over my work spot. (In case you don't remember Teddy, that's his picture next to DoctorBeth up top.) So thank you again Blue Bear's person, because I still love the drawing!

Ok, so on to Blue Bear's own story, which requires a bit of backtracking. His person (one of you kind people) first contacted me over 6 years ago! At the time they wrote:

I just recently found your Tumblr and, let me say, you are a godsend! My bear genuinely means more to me than anything in the entire world, as much as any pet or human life as well ;w; He's going on 27 years of wear and tear and I'd been concerned that when he gets any older there'd really be no way to repair him while still preserving his materials, so my heart melted when I saw the work you do!

Here were some of his diagnosis photos:

There were many treatment options: a spa, new toe pads, wound repair, scar minimization, transplants for balding, embroidery touchups. Blue Bear's person took it all under advisement, but wasn't ready for him to fly solo cross country yet. They touched base again a year later in 2020, but we all know what happened then. And then this year, I heard from them again!

I know I'm reaching out 5 years later, but I was wondering if you still offered this service, and if so, could I potentially get a new quote from you if there's a price difference! (I know tariffs and the closing of Joanne's may affect prices) His condition has not changed.

I have been so afraid of sending my bear across the country but he certainly needs a doctor!

They were right, Blue Bear's condition hadn't changed, and we settled on a treatment that kept him as close to original as possible (for instance bald spot transplants, not recovering, and keeping his nose as is) but restored everything possible (including toe embroidery).

A few months later (in September), Blue Bear screwed up his courage, grabbed his own stuffed emoji buddy, packed his air tag so his person would know where he was, and flew cross country with the drawing to visit the hospital.

He started his care in a relaxing bubble bath:

Once clean and restuffed, it was time to choose fur for his transplants. His aqua color was a tough match, and I ended up sending fur swatches to his person for them to choose from. Eventually, they chose this one:

It's actually one of my favorite furs. It has a little swirl, is silky soft, and, coincidentally, was really close color match for Blue Bear's aged fur color. Surgery proceeded. His balding was treated, he got new toe pads, his smile was restored, and even his "my teddy" writing got touched up. Here he is almost better (this was a chubbiness check, hence the open seam and my hand pushing on his belly):

He needed some more plumping in his belly and his head/muzzle, but eventually, he was ready to fly home:

His person wrote:

OH that is PERFECT! Thank you!

And yeah, he’s always been a lopsided guy.

But yes, my gosh, he’s perfect

So Blue Bear got in a new box with his tracker and soft padding and flew home to his family (human and stuffie) in CT.

Here he is back home:

His person wrote:

He arrived safely and I am SO happy he’s home! I definitely cried opening the box.

You fixed him up the best I could have ever hoped for. He looks amazing! It’s a real blessing to be able to hold him tight rather than have him sitting by the bed in a t-shirt for fear of him deteriorating further. He’s so secure now!

I really love the new fabric, it suits him well and is so similar in texture to his existing fur.

1000 times thank you for saving my best friends life. You’ve brought so much joy to my heart, I truly cannot thank you enough. It was an immense pleasure working with you. I wish you the best with all your future patients! I will continue to read your blog and be heartened by everyone else’s lives you will change

(and his stuffed buddies all look pretty happy too!)

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#stuffed animal hospital #stuffed animal repair #teddy bear hospital #teddy bear repair #teddy bears #stuffed animals #stuffies #blue bear #art #teddy bear art #drawing

Honu the turtle

Today I pulled up the story of a patient who was here a couple years ago that I had always meant to share with you, and didn't get around to back then. This happens a lot! I have a patient who has a wonderful transformation, or comes in with a great story, but then I get busy, and there are so many patients and so many stories. But I have them all stored, and eventually, hopefully, I will share many! But today is Honu's turn.

Honu the turtle was living a happy life with his family until he saw some funny brown water and wanted to investigate. It was coffee! Which is not good for any turtles, even if it's decaf. So his family quickly gave him a bath but... they used a hair dryer to try to dry him and the concentrated heat of the dryer meant Honu got burnt (PSA: Please do not use any heat for drying stuffed animals. I've seen way too many burn victims!)

Here are Honu's diagnosis photos. Fortunately, the burns were pretty small:

We agreed Honu would come to the hospital and even though he'd had a bath, he would get a spa (there was concern his foam filling hadn't dried all the way before the burns) and then we would treat his burns once everything was nice and clean.

Here he is in his bubble bath:

Once clean and lightly stuffed (he'd get more stuffing after surgery) it was time to choose fabric for his grafts. I always tell people, perfect matches are rarely possible, and if so, I send photos of patients with transplant options. In Honu's case, there wasn't a perfect match for either of his greens, but there were two nice options:

His people made a choice, and surgery proceeded. The plan was to make the patch on the top of his shell heart shaped. For his belly burn, I was able to stitch the injury so he had a small scar, but no patching.

Here are some closeups of those healed wounds:

There was the option of a heart on his belly too, but his people opted for the seam scar instead.

Once approved, stuffing continued, so here's his heart being made and installed with a bit of his original stuffing:

And here he is all better, socializing with my turtles and waiting for his flight home to the Pacific Northwest:

His family wrote:

Thank you so much for taking such good care of Honu! He looks so happy that he's making new friends :)

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This post was done in part in honor of my turtle, Tuesday.

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#stuffed animal repair #stuffed animals #stuffed animal hospital #stuffed animal cleaning #turtles #turtle #stuffed animal #turtle stuffed animal #water turtle

Rogey aka Roger the Rabbit revisits the hospital after nearly a dozen years!

We do get a lot of what I call revisits at the hospital. Sometimes, the same patient comes in for a different treatment. Sometimes patients come regularly for spas. I have some patients who are slowly getting every seam and every bald spot redone, but since they can’t be away from their families for long, they only come in for the most urgent repairs, a few days stay at a time. But Roger had first come to the hospital nearly a dozen years ago. After that amount of time, he needed some repeat surgeries, and some new ones, and a spa was in order as well. Here are his diagnosis photos:

After a bit of talk, and a bit of thought, Roger’s person opted for the following treatment:

Gentle spa

reline his inner ears

recover his footpads

recover his nose

repair his neck and reinforce the seam

touchup his eyes

So he came to the hospital earlier this year (there had been over 6000 patients in the hospital since his last visit!).

Here he is in his bubble bath:

The last visit was so long ago, he hadn’t gotten a heart, so here’s his new heart being made and installed:

Then he had his surgeries for his feet, ears, nose and eyes. And soon, he was ready to fly home:

You can see, even his cheeks were a bit fluffier. His person wrote:

I was just so happy having Roger back! Thank you so so much again for taking care of him & so quickly. He looks absolutely perfect!

Have fun, Roger! See you in another dozen years! Doctorbeth

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#stuffed animal hospital #stuffed animal repair #stuffed animal cleaning #roger rabbit #roger rabbit plush #rabbit plush #bunny plush #rabbit toy #roger rabbit toy #stuffed animals #plushies

Nutly the Squirrel and National Teddy Bear Day!

I was planning to tell you about Nutly today because he's a squirrel, and when I think of fall (which it's not technically yet, but is coming up fast) I think of squirrels gathering nuts. And then I found out that today is National Teddy Bear Day! So, first, Happy National Teddy Bear Day from me and my teddy bear to you and all of yours (and all the other stuffies too!).

Ok, now on to the preplanned fall story of Nutly, who belongs to one of you kind people... and arrived at the hospital with her own teddy bear!. :-)

Nutly's person wrote back in April. Here is a partial excerpt of her first email, titled "Just putting out feelers".

"..since I'm not sure if I'm ready to do this just yet, or when I will be.

Nutly is a 9" stuffed squirrel who I've had since 1997 and may very well be my soul living outside of my body. Unfortunately, I have loved her to the point where I wanted to ask about your services so I can continue to sleep with her every night without worrying about her long-term prospects. Her neck is really thin and she has had a hair scrunchie around it, like some sort of Elizabethan ruff, to make sure it stays straight and stable. Luckily no flopping yet. The scarf was a jaunty later addition that constantly needs retying (we joke that she likes to remove it for attention).

Plus she badly needs cleaning. Sadly my mom put her through the washing machine a few times when I was younger, but I said 'nope never again' and the upshot is she hasn't been bathed in over 20 years at this point. You could be forgiven for not realizing her muzzle used to be white. I tried to gently remove some of the dark stuff around her muzzle seams, and the fur underneath was yellowed, so I stopped.

I also genuinely don't know what to do about her nose. It used to be pleather. I think it's now mostly superglue.

I'm sure you hear this from everyone who writes you, but I'm getting really emotional even thinking about sending her away. I genuinely don't think I'm ready right now. But I thought talking to you, and coming up with a plan, might help me become ready.

And here are some of Nutly's diagnosis photos, along with a younger similar squirrel for comparison:

So, you can see Nutly was pretty worn in some areas, and had some nose issues, and wanted a spa. It took a bit, but we (Nutly, her person, and I) eventually scheduled her for a summer appointment, and agreed we'd take her treatment step by step. The first step would be a spa and lining. All of her original stuffing would be saved outside of her repaired body, and returned to her person for sentimental purposes. She was quite cozy when she arrived at the hospital (with her own teddy bear!):

Here she is in her bubble bath:

and here's her heart being made and installed with a bit of her original stuffing once she was lined:

Next was redoing her nose and her first chubbiness check:

Here is her buddy, checking up on her progress from home:

And here's her chubbiness adjusted:

With that approved, her person decided it would be ok to go ahead with transplants for bald spots. She selected a furry fleece, and here's Nutly after that treatment:

At this point her person wrote: She looks beautiful. I'm so happy. I wish I could reach out and give her a huge hug.

You'll note her tail was still bald. That would require a much longer ply fur. Here she is, all better!

I like the top down photo because you can really see how fluffy her tail is! Note her white area didn't get any treatment other than the spa, because the balding wasn't structural and we didn't want to change her expression. Her person wrote: SHE IS PERFECT and yes, I absolutely approve! I wasn't expecting this so soon and I'm delighted.

Nutly flew home and in addition to a very nice note from her person, Nutly sent this note:

Hi Dr. Beth! I had a really fun time at the hospital. You took such good care of me and it made me feel special. I also feel really fat, like I gathered just enough nuts for winter. Plus my tail is super fluffy and I forgot what that was like. I'm back home and ready to climb on stuff again and sit on the bed with Bailey watching birds on the telephone wire outside the window and dreaming about climbing trees. T cried a little when she held me. I don't know if she wanted me to say that… but it's too late! I love her so much and I'm full of glee and happiness and joy now that I'm home. Say hi to all the other animals for me! Bye!

And here's Nutly at home with her friend Bailey Bunny (who has an appointment to come to the hospital shortly for a spa. :-)

If you enjoyed this post, you may be interested in my substack newsletter, doctorbeth.substack.com. It’s free, and you get the stories straight to your inbox. I also do occassional retro posts from the backlog through the newsletter. But don’t worry, I’ll keep posting everything new here too.

#national teddy bear day #stuffed animal repair #stuffed animal hospital #teddy bears #teddy bear #stuffed squirrel #squirrel toy #stuffed animal cleaning #toy squirrel #stuffed bunny #toy bunny #bunny toy #squirrels

Fred the stuffed microwavable owlet's accident: a shorter story

Fred the Owlet’s person wrote with an emergency. The email was titled: Owlet drowning incident, and the body of the email said:

Hi there,

I have a stuffed owl who I’ve had for many years who has great sentimental value to me. Much to my horror, I accidentally ran him through the washing machine on hot yesterday.

Based on some research, he’s by Intelex, and is thus is filled with lavendar and some kind of grain. He was microwavable prior to this incident. Since the washing machine situation, his inner grain seems to have expanded and I’m super worried he’s going to mildew. He is in great shape but I’m wondering if you would be able to restuff him? He means a great deal to me. Photos attached of Fred who is currently in the deck drying. Quote appreciated.

And here was the photo of Fred, outside in the sun but desperately wanting to return home:

(I knew as soon as I saw that that I would need to share this story with all of you!).

In any case, Fred’s person couldn’t get him to the hospital right away, but being a surgical nurse, she felt confident carefully opening him up and removing his filling before bringing him to the hospital. That filling was linseed and lavender. She planned to get a donor for his new organs, but brought him to the hospital for a full spa while the donor took few in.

After carefully removing all seeds from his seams, and stuffing from his feet and wings, Fred had another bath at the hospital to be sure he didn’t have any accidental internal growths. That’s the fear with seeds you see, I’ve seen them sprout inside stuffed animals!

Here he is in his bubble bath:

The donor arrived while Fred was drying, but Fred’s person just couldn’t sacrifice him for his organs. Instead, she weighed him and brought him to the hospital with a bag of linseeds that matched his weight. I had lavender to add, and we used Fred’s new brother as a reference for chubbiness only (no donor donation needed). Here are the two of them, ready to go home (Fred is on the right looking at the photo, and that’s Ralph the bunny (another patient) in the background):

The owlets’ human wrote:

Just a quick note to thank you from the bottom of my heart. Fred looks perfect- and he smells amazing!! I’m confident that we will have many more years together now, and I couldn’t be more grateful.

Thank you for what you do, and thank you for adding whimsy to a world that could use a lot more of that.

********

#stuffed animal repair #stuffed animal cleaning #stuffed animal hospital #microwavable stuffed animal #lavender stuffed animal #owl #owlet #owls

Binkey the teddy bear's story

Binkey’s is the first of a small series of stories where I’m going to quote a bit more heavily from my patients’ people, because they wrote such interesting/nice letters that I wanted to share those as well as the patients’ transformations.

Binkey is a bear, a brown bear, a traditionally sized and shaped teddy bear. His person initially wrote to the hospital:

I am reaching out because my best friend for the last 35 years deeply needs your help. He is a teddy bear named Binkey, who unfortunately had a terrible run in with a roommate's cat a several years ago. I had always tried to take great care of him, but unfortunately since that time he has seriously deteriorated. He had gone through several at home operations by my mom over the years, and my very inept hands made their own attempts as I got older, however this is completely outside of our abilities, and I fear that at this point any attempts I have made created more damage than help.

I have been really anxious and scared of sending him out as I fear him getting lost or something happening to him.

Some background about Binkey: He is from Czechoslovakia before it became Czech Republic. My father was a Czech dissident, who escaped when the Russians invaded. Right after communism ended my family was finally able to communicate with us and send us letters and gifts for the first time. Binkey is the only gift I received from them as a little girl. We were immediately inseparable. My childhood was a bit complicated, and we moved around often, so Binkey has always been the one stable constant. He is the only thing I have left from my childhood and means the world to me. He even survived being left at a hotel when I was 6, and I freaked out and thankfully the hotel was able to get him back to me. Ever since then I made sure that he was always safe. Unfortunately, as mentioned earlier, a roommate's cat managed to get into my room when I was not home one day, attacked him and heavily injured him.

I would like to keep him as close to himself and original as possible, while understanding that he has some serious damage. I do not want to change his eyes, nose or anything like that since thankfully that is not necessary.

So here are some of Binkey’s diagnosis photos:

We agreed on a treatment plan for Binkey, which originally consisted of stitching his wounds, minimizing his scars, and fur transplants on the bald areas. An appointment was made with this tentative treatment in mind.

Unfortunately for Binkey, shortly before he was scheduled to come to the hospital, his person wrote:

I wasn't originally planning on it, but I think he might need to have new stuffing. There was an unfortunate incident with a younger relative pulling out some of his stuffing from his holes last week. Not a lot, but it was from his face. I will wait for you to evaluate and determine if it is necessary.

He flew into the hospital wearing a new onesie to protect his skin. He also had a companion to keep him company and a tracker so his person knew exactly where he was. :-)

After an in person examination, we had a new treatment plan:

Stitch wounds and minimize scars

Fur transplants for his larger bald areas, including the entire tan areas of his front and face, but just bald parts on his back and back of head

A new yellow ribbon (because he once had one) and,

possibly a new white shirt.

First, he needed his wounds sewn up, so his skin would be able to take the pressure of new stitches, then his person had to choose which brown fur she wanted for transplants. Here were the options:

After some consideration, she made a selection and surgery proceeded. Here he is with all the brown areas treated and his new yellow bow:

There was still the question of whether to treat his white areas. His person opted not to. They weren’t structural issues and kept him as original as possible. Then there was a decision for his shirt. Did she want one? If so what kind? After a short delay, his person wrote:

For shirts I honestly can't decide. I got used to seeing him in white but also have favorite colors of green, orange, brown.

My mom had a great idea. She said, why don't I just let you pick the style and fabric, and let you have fun with it. I agree with her if you're up for it. My only preference is softer fabrics, so velour as you suggested would work for me (or anything else you're in the mood to use). Since it's also removable, I will be happy with whatever color, fabric, and style you decide to go with.

Well, I had an idea and was very excited to proceed with it. Here’s Binkey in his new hoodie:

His person wrote: Love the hoodie!

So Binkey and his buddy got ready to fly home to Texas:

He made it home safe and sound and his person wrote:

Thank you again!!! :) You truly have no idea how much I appreciate you and how glad I am that I found you. I was worried before that he would fall completely apart, and I would permanently lose him. You do amazing work.

I am forever grateful.

*******************

#teddy bear #teddy bears #teddy bear repair #teddy bear hospital #stuffed animals #stuffed animal repair #stuffed animal hospital #teddy bear clothes #stuffed animal clothes #plushies #plushie repair #plushie clothes

Baby Elien the Alien!

Baby Elien is an orange and purple alien just the right size to cuddle against a human chest. But over the years his skin had thinned, he'd lost weight, and his eyes had cracked, and he needed help. Here are some of his diagnosis photos:

The initial treatment plan was to open him up, remove his stuffing, and fully line him, keeping some of his older scarring (which told his story of his time on earth), but recover his eyes in fabric (thereby restoring his vision) and replacing his antennae. This particular alien is aquaphobic, so no spa for him. :-)

First step, lining, is not photogenic, but you can see a bit of his lining as his heart was installed with part of his original stuffing:

Next his scars were minimized, antennae in stalled, and eyes recovered. Here are his first chubbiness approval pics:

If you zoom in, you'll see he still has some scarring around his tummy patch. At this point, his person opted to minimize that scarring too. So here he is after that one last surgery, ready to fly home (just a short hop down the coast, not all the way to his planet of origin).

His person wrote: He looks amazing! Thank you so much.

*********

#stuffed animal hospital #space alien #space aliens #stuffed animal repair #alien plush #space alien plush

Betsy Bear's Wardrobe Makeover and Surgery

Betsy Bear's was loved by her first little girl for over 7 years, and had a lot of adventures. So many, that her person's mom put her away for 25 years to keep her safe! Now, Betsy Bear's original little girl is having a baby of her own, and the soon to be grandma wrote to me, asking to rejuvenate Betsy Bear for the next generation. Here are a few of her diagnosis photos:

As you can see, she had had previous repairs, but despite that, her cloth areas (including her inner ears) were falling apart fragile. But her furred areas (hands, feet, head) were all pretty good.

We agreed on a treatment plan which included a spa (important when going to a new generation), recovering her cloth body parts, and preserving some of her original cloth outside and visible.

Betsy Bear's people made travel plans, carefully packing her in a bag and a box for her UPS flight. They warned me before she flew though, "Her clothes continue to unravel with each time she is touched."

She arrived safely and started her spa straightaway. No bubble bath photos, because she was literally in pieces in the bath! But once she was clean, it was time to choose a new fabric for her clothes. Her person opted for a soft pink velour. It would show off her appliques from her old fur, and her surviving lace nicely, and be soft for the baby.

And here is Betsy Bear all better!

You can see we used different parts of her original fabric and old repair fabric for her heart applique and her inner ears.

Betsy Bear flew back to the east coast and her family wrote "She is perfect!"

********************

#stuffed animal repair #stuffed animal hospital #stuffed animal clothes #stuffed animal clothing #teddy bear repair #teddy bear hospital #teddy bear #teddy bears

Tiger with the memories

Tiger is one of those stuffed animals that holds lots of memories. I know that's almost all of the ones I see! But in Tiger's case, he represented the memory of a person too. His current person wrote:

I'm writing because I'm looking to restore my recently deceased mother's childhood stuffed animal. I've attached pictures of the tiger I'd like restored. There are some repairs needed but I would also like the fur to be replaced. The stuffing inside is also very hard. My mother got Tiger in either the 50s or 60s.

Here are a few of the diagnosis photos she sent:

I recognized Tiger's style right away. I'd had a previous patient similar to him a few years back. So I suggested lining his belly area (so he could keep as much of his stripes as possible, and recovering the rest (so he could be furry again and get new stripes there). He also got a spa (to replace the foam stuffing that had hardened). And his family opted to keep him one eyed (it was part of his charm) but to give him a removable pirate patch.

Here he is in his bubble bath:

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

And here he is, all better! The visually astute among you may notice you can see a bit more lining through his belly than one might have thought from his diagnosis photos. The reason is that he actually had foam holding some of those orange areas together, not fabric!

His person's reaction? He looks amazing!

He flew home to Massachusetts and his family wrote:

Tiger has arrived home. Thank you so much for all your help. My brother, dad, and I are so pleased with the work you did restoring my mother's stuffed animal from your childhood. Coincidentally he arrived just in time for Mother's Day, the first one without my mum, and I am so grateful for the work that you did.

#stuffed animal repair #stuffed animal cleaning #plushie repair #plushie cleaning #stuffed animal hospital #vintage stuffed animals #stuffed tiger #tiger toy #stuffed tiger toy #stuffed animals

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