Foxy’s people wrote earlier this year hoping for a full rejuvenation for their beloved fox. Here are his original diagnosis photos:
Not only were his eyes loose and his tongue and whiskers missing, but his fur had stiffened with age, and was going bald. We agreed that the best treatment would be to recover all of his fur, tighten his eyes, and give him new whiskers and a new tongue. He wasn’t getting a spa, because his family wanted to keep his original stuffing.
Now when patients need fur, whether full recovers like this fox, or transplants on bald spots, I always say I will get as close as possible to either their current or original fur color and texture, depending on their family’s preference. But… I also always warn them:
Perfect fabric matches are rarely possible, but if that is the case, I will send photos with transplant options so you can choose what you like best.
Especially when we’re trying to match aged fur, or original older fur, this is true. Fabric styles go out of fashion, fabric colors and patterns go out of print, even with the same exact fabric from the same time, two bolts will be different colors, and then you need to take into account that every animal ages in a different environment, so their fur ages differently. In fact, for some patients the bulk of their time in the hospital is trying to find that perfect fur, because you can’t match fur by looking at photos. There’s too much variation in cameras and computer screens. You need to be able to sit a fur next to a patient.
For Foxy, there was some question as to what his original fur was (maybe orange, maybe a faded brown or darkened gold). The first fur options were along those last two lines:
The top was closest, but not exact… he had been oranger originally. So I took another week, and found some more furs, which I ordered from Belarus and Germany! They arrived and I sent a photo:
The second was the one! Surgery proceeded… Foxy had white parts that needed recovering too, but there is much easier access to pure white fur, so I could match one I had in texture to the orange his family chose. His inner ears were white satin, which is also fairly easy to match. Here he is fully recovered, eyes repaired and with his new tongue… we also ended up recovering his nose in new fabric:
And here he is showing off his new black whiskers:
Oh my gosh, he looks just like I remember!
Finding a fur for transplants or recovering is always a treasure hunt. Foxy had time (he was here a couple months) and we were able to search the globe and find a near perfect match to his original fur, but that is rare. Many patients have close matches though, and if there’s a bit of a color or texture difference between old and new fur, well that’s just a scar… and they did earn it from years of hugs. What’s important, is the new fur makes them sturdy enough for many more years of hugging. :-)
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