#stuffed dog

George was a classic dog coming to the hospital for a classic treatment:

As you can see, he was a bit worn with age and hugs (kind of like the chair he was photographed on).  :-)

His person didn’t want to change his insides, and she loved the bells in his ears, but she did believe he needed a new fur coat, and a nose and mouth too.

He flew to the hospital and we discussed fur transplant options.  I sent photos of those options to his person:

We all agreed the top brown was best, which meant ordering a black to match. So George relaxed for a few days while that was all arranged.  Given that his black fur was on top, I wanted to be able to do those sections first.

Soon George was recovered in soft new fur, and even had his pink tongue in place:

Next some adjustments to his tongue, and a nose!  And we needed to adjust his tongue so it was, as his person wrote, “a bit more salmon, not as anemic lol.”

“This is perfect!” George’s person wrote. 

He didn’t have far to fly, just a short hop south and he was home again.  His person wrote:

Thanks so much for restoring my first friend! And, thank you for sharing your gift to folks like me!

Yes, that’s his name, with the apostrophe. :-)

Butter’s the dog had a run-in with the family dog and definitely lost the battle – along with a leg, an ear, and his nose and muzzle!  Here are the diagnosis photos his family sent:

We started his treatment with a bubble bath, to remove saliva, clean out his wounds, and get down to his original fur color and texture for transplants later on:

Next he got restuffed, with his heart of original stuffing, to provide courage for the coming surgeries:

Butter’s was one of the lucky ones who I could find near perfect matches for his skin and fur.  So surgery proceeded well.  Here he is modeling some new nose options (post ear and leg attachment and muzzle reconstruction):

His family chose this one:

Here are a few of his “chubbiness testing” photos:

And here he is, just before he flew home last week!

His family wrote “he’s never looked better!”

As you may have guessed from my lack of posts recently, it’s been REALLY busy in the hospital.  As in, complex surgeries are currently scheduling in August.  But… This little hush puppy dog is going to be the feature of an Easter Basket when he gets home, so I thought it was pretty timely to share his story this weekend. :-)

His family actually wrote back in December after he had an unfortunate  run-in with the washing machine. (I will spare you all my opinion of washing machines and stuffed animals… if you haven’t read it, and you want to do so, it is here … and a second post is here.)  In the author’s defense, she didn’t put the puppy in the washing machine. :-)  She wrote:

There is no rush on this repair since he has been sitting in the laundry room for awhile. My 45 year old son rides bikes and this puppy has been with him on all of his MS Bike Runs. Sooo he wanted to wash him and his head got destroyed and it looks like a piece of his fur is missing from the back of his head.

Here are the diagnosis photos she sent:

Now coincidentally, I have one of these same exact puppies!  So I knew exactly what he was supposed to look like, and knew I had quite close fur if he needed any transplants.  We waited a few months for him to come in both because it was the holidays (always riskier for travel) and the hospital was crowded, and because it gave his stuffing time to thoroughly air dry before he went in a dark box for his trip (thus avoiding mildew issues).  He came in last month for wound repair only.  Here he is all better after his surgery:

His person wrote:

He looks new and I think he will look great in an Easter Basket. I am so happy I found you.

So here’s to you, a hopefully not quite so sad puppy.  I hope you (and all of you readers, too) have a happy Easter, are having a good pesach, or are just enjoying the start of spring.  :-)