Your Pet as a Plush

Yes, we can turn your pet into a stuffed animal. Send a few photos of your dog or cat and we sew one plush copy by hand, with the same coat, markings and eye color. A custom pet plush starts from $390, usually takes 2–4 weeks to make, and you see photos of it before it ships.

Nothing is waiting on a shelf. Every pet plush is made to order for one owner, from that owner’s photos. We’ve sewn toys by hand since 2009, more than 2,100 of them so far. You can see the pets we’ve made on our pet stuffed animal page.

Yes, and phone photos are fine. We don’t start from a breed template. We copy the dog or cat in your pictures, with the crooked ear and the patch over one eye, because that’s what makes it yours and not just “a corgi”.

The blue merle corgi below was sewn from the owner’s everyday photos, a bath-time one included. The black-and-tan dog with feathered ears was sewn from a single photo.

People order a plush of a pet who is very much alive for all sorts of reasons. Maybe the dog can’t come on the plane, or you’re moving to a dorm where pets aren’t allowed. Maybe it’s a birthday present for a friend who talks about her cat all day. Our Jack Russell plush was exactly that: a birthday present for a friend, and she was genuinely surprised.

The real dog: one of the owner’s photos of their blue merle corgi.

The corgi plush sewn from those photos, odd eyes and all.

Sharp daylight photos with the whole pet in the frame work best. This is the list we ask for:

• A clear photo from the front, then the side and the back
• Close-ups of the markings, the eye color and any little quirks, like a crooked ear or a white tip on the tail
• A photo of the pose you’d like: curled up, sitting, belly up
• The collar, tag or bandana, if you want it on the toy
• The size you’d like, and your date if there is one

Five good photos beat fifty blurry ones. If something doesn’t show in any picture, just tell us in words: “her left ear is darker inside”, “the tail curls to the right”. We ask if anything is unclear.

One patch at a time, against your photos. A merle coat has no repeating pattern, so on the corgi every grey and black patch was placed by hand. The corgi also has one ice-blue eye and one brown, because the real dog does. Two different eye colors is called heterochromia, and it’s more common in dogs with merle, dappled or white coloring around the head.

With cats, the face usually decides it. The family who ordered our tuxedo cat checked one thing first: the small black spot under the pink nose. Then the long black coat, the white chest and paws, the yellow-green eyes and a tail so bushy it’s almost half the toy. Tuxedo isn’t a breed, it’s a coat pattern, and every cat wears it differently.

The fur is faux fur picked to match the coat: short and smooth for a whippet, curly for a maltipoo, deep wrinkles shaped in the sewing for a Shar Pei. We never use real fur.

The real tuxedo cat, from the owner’s photo.

The tuxedo cat plush: white chest, black spot under the nose, the bushy tail.

Yes. You pick the pose: sitting, lying down, curled up, belly up. Or ask for a poseable body with wire inside, so you can change the pose later. Our maltipoo has one. It sits up straight on a chair or lies on its back in the grass, like the puppy it was copied from.

Habits count too. The tabby cat has folded ears and a pink tongue poking out, because that’s how the cat in the photo looked. Send us the picture that makes you laugh every time. That’s usually the pose to sew.

The poseable maltipoo, lying on its back like the real puppy.

A fold-eared tabby with its tongue out, just like the cat in the photo.

Either one. You pick when you order.

A realistic plush copies the animal in your photos as closely as fabric and thread allow, in faux fur matched to the coat. It’s still a plush, not a photograph, so it will never be an exact copy. What it gets right is what you notice at a glance: the coat colors, the markings, the eye color, the way the ears sit.

A cartoon-style plush is your pet made simpler and cuter, rounder, with big eyes, but still clearly your dog or cat. You tell us how far to take it. Send us the cartoon sketch you’d like and we sew from it. No sketch yet? Our artist can draw one for you first, as a plush-ready drawing. Everything else works the same way: you send photos, we agree the look, and you see photos of the finished plush before it ships.

Want a cartoon animal that isn’t your pet, or a character? Send a drawing and look at our plush from drawings instead.

Any size. Small copies are about 15–20 cm (6–8 in), and we also sew them life-size. Our blue merle corgi plush stands on an open palm, because that’s the size its owner picked. A lap-size cat or a full-size dog takes more fur and more hours, so the price goes up with the size.

The easiest way to judge size is next to the real thing. Here’s our Jack Russell plush beside Murka, a real white kitten.

A palm-size corgi plush. Size is up to you.

The Jack Russell plush next to Murka, a real kitten.

Pet plush start from $390. Each one is priced on its own, by size, coat and extras, and the quote is free. Prices from our recent pets:

• Dog replicas: from $450
• Cat plush: from $350 for a short-haired black cat; our long-haired cats were $390–410
• Other animals, like a rabbit, a rat or a parrot: realistic stuffed animals start from $350

Making usually takes 2–4 weeks. Delivery usually takes another 7–20 business days and is paid separately. Around the holidays, post gets slower, so for Christmas order by November 1.

Extras can be added on request: a sound module, LED eyes, a name tag or an embroidered name, the collar your dog actually wears. Extras change the price and the time.

1. Send the photos through the quote form, with a few words about your pet.
2. Get a free quote with a time estimate.
3. Agree the details: size, pose, which markings matter most.
4. We sew it by hand. Making usually takes 2–4 weeks.
5. Check the photos of the finished plush against your pet. If something looks off, we fix it before it ships.

Neither of these was a pet, but both customers worried about the same thing pet owners do: will it really look like the picture? In their own words:

“Great likeness with a picture I sent as an original. Taking into account that a lizard is not that ordinary as teddy bears, cats and dogs.”

Alex, about Bill, the lizard plush he ordered for his daughter. Read his review

“I was a little scared to order from someone I found on the Internet … but took the chance and am thrilled with the results.”

Larry, Washington DC, about the plush he ordered as a gift for his wife. Read his review

You see photos of the finished toy before it ships, so most fixes happen then. And if it arrives and it isn’t your pet to you, tell us within 14 days, for any reason. You get a full refund and keep the plush. The details are on our guarantee page.

The work is the same, and there’s no deadline. Send the photos you have, even old ones. Read how we make memorial pet plush, or see the memorial pets we’ve made, including a needle-felted 3D portrait for the wall. Looking for a gift for someone else? Our custom plush gift guide has more ideas.

Send them with the size you have in mind. We’ll reply with a price and a time estimate. For Christmas, order by November 1.

Custom toys start from $350.
A bigger size or extra details can cost more.