Gather around for a crazy tale!

Back in the day, I started the prototyping for my Mewcarons (cat macarons) and I liked the shape of my Hamburger Bun plush so told the factory to use that basic shape, but change minor things to make it a cat. Well, they took me literally and sent me the first pic - a catburger. I totally lol’d with my middleman. They said they could check if the factory would send it to me since they would just destroy it anyway. I said yes.

Then, nothing happened so I assumed that the factory had already thrown it away. We had gone on to get the approved Mewcaron plush so I got what I originally paid for. I was sorta bummed that the plush had ended up destroyed, but there wasn’t anything I could do.

Fast forward four years later to August of this past year when I was walking home from work and saw this by the furniture dumpster behind an apartment complex down the street from me:

I have a certain tail shape on my Mewcarons and this plush had the same tail. I quickly pulled up the factory image from my Dropbox. It was Catburger! I quickly messaged my middleman and asked what happened to the prototype and if they had made more. She said ‘Nope, I had them send the one to you’.

‘I never got it,’ I said. ‘And I think I just found it!’

Catburger was definitely worse for wear and looked to have had a tough life. In my town, all the apartment leases end at the same time and August is turnover season. The complexes will put these big dumpsters out for people to leave their unwanted furniture and other large things. Catburger was sitting on this beat up chair.

With anything fabric (and even non-fabric), you have to be cautious about potential vermin like bed bugs. I also have pet allergies. Having no idea what Catburger had been through, I sadly decided to leave it and continued on my way home.

I posted that night on my social media about the whole thing and one of my friends said, ‘I could clean/restore it for you!’ By this time, it was dark, late and not a good idea for me to be walking around.

‘It’s on the way to work, I’ll get it in the morning,’ I said. That night, I felt bad that I had just left Catburger by the trash.

The next morning, I took a bag and was ready to get it. Except, someone had cleaned up around the dumpster! All the furniture was gone and the dumpster was locked up (you access it from the side and can walk in since it’s for furniture, not regular trash).

Honestly, I felt pretty sad that Catburger was fated to be buried in the dump.

On the way home, I decided to give it one more look. Since people had been moving some more, the dumpster was open again. I decided to throw all shame to the wind and go in and see if I could find it.

Catburger was right there near the entrance, looking a bit shocked and laying upside down under the wooden chair it had been on earlier. I think someone had just chucked the whole thing over the top the day before. I quickly grabbed him and put him in the bag.

I texted my friend that I had been able to rescue Catburger and would put him to go out the next day. I did tell her that he was sealed up in a bag and if there were bugs to just throw it away. I didn’t want to infest her house!

She texted me a few days later that Catburger had arrived safe and sound and passed quarantine. And then proceeded to send me hilarious pics of Catburger’s spa treatment.

She did a fantastic job. After restuffing him with fresh stuffing she took Catburger on some small adventures around her home state. He got to check out the regional bakery and all the tasty desserts inside, a nearby college and wonder why the local Starbucks was closed that day.

And then, it was time for him to come home.

After four long years, Catburger was finally with the rest of his Kimchi Kawaii siblings.

He lives happily on the couch now and watches me working on art or slacking off, watching Netflix.

So what now? Well, a lot of people got attached to Catburger as the story was playing out on social media this past fall. I did an intentional Catburger prototype and will be launching a Kickstarter on July 31, 2020 to send it to production.

But the original, prodigal Catburger will always have a special place in my heart. I’m so glad he’s home.