Morgan and Ruby - German Shepherd brother and sister

[Debbie]

Here is my tale of how I acquired Morgan and Ruby:

I am a one-person pet rescue in Northeast Iowa and had a puppy brought to me in April of 2008. This puppy, Riley, couldn't seem to keep any food down and the owners had found homes for all the other pups and didn't know what to do for Riley. They were right - poor Riley couldn't keep ANY food down! Luckily, my vet was coming out to the house to bring all my rescue dogs up-to-date on their shots, so I had him take a look at Riley. He diagnosed Riley with PRAA (Persistent Right Aortic Arch) and told me he would need to be seen, and have surgery, at Iowa State University Vet School and Hospital. I made the appointment at ISU for the following Monday and took Riley to Ames, where they performed the surgery and had him back home by the end of the week.

Riley already had an adoptive home pending and they were just waiting for him to recover from his open heart surgery before taking him to his new home. He spent 4 weeks recuperating at my home and then was adopted into his new family and moved to Wisconsin. I am in contact with Riley's adoptive mom and he's doing GREAT~!

I found the ME group on Yahoo while researching PRAA and ME. There was a gal on there who was a breeder of German Shepherds and lived in Pennsylvania. She had a 5 week old male pup that had been diagnosed with ME and her husband wanted her to "simply put him down". I stepped in and immediately told her I would take the pup~~!! The only problem was that I was 700 miles from her home......

I immediately searched the internet for someone to transport Morgan to my home in Iowa. With gas prices over $4.00 per gallon, it simply wasn't feasible for me to drive to PA to get him; so, I turned to the Internet. I found a site called www.uship.com and located a young couple coming through Iowa on their way to Wyoming that would gladly transport Morgan to me. He arrived safe and sound the morning of July 1, 2008 - my 55th birthday~~!! I then took Morgan to ISU for his diagnosis (thinking it was PRAA and could be fixed by surgery) and they confirmed ME.

I knew that Morgan had siblings that had been sold to various people. One young gal had taken two of his sisters and she was having a hard time getting Rajah (now Ruby) to gain weight and had taken her to numerous specialists in PA for a diagnosis. Since learning of Morgan having ME, they were quick to diagnos Ruby with the same thing. Reluctantly, the gal returned Ruby to the breeder, who in turn contacted me to see if I would be interested in taking her, too. I once again turned to www.uship.com and found a lady trucker coming my direction, so Ruby made the 700 mile trip and got to Iowa over Labor Day weekend. At that time, the pups were 4 1/2 months old and Ruby weighed only 23 pounds, while Morgan was over 30 pounds.

Within two weeks, Ruby had gained 13 pounds and was up to 36 pounds - only a few pounds lighter than Morgan~~!! I feed both pups a mixture of Eukanuba Venison and Sweet Potato dry, soaked in water, with more water added, then mashed and then I add Wellness canned food, pumpkin, crushed pineapple and baby food Oatmeal to this and mix it to a paste consistency. They are doing great on this diet and the only time we have any regurgitation issues are when Morgan gets into the other dogs dry food. He just can't tolerate dry food at all! I am happy to report that at 6 1/2 months old, both are over 50 pounds and growing every day.

Debbie

[Debbie]

We have 3 other large dogs in the household (2 lab/setter mix and 1 yellow lab) that sit patiently waiting for Morgan and Ruby to finish their meals - then the 3 move in like vultures!! It's too funny to watch as they sit and drool waiting for their turn..... And every chance Morgan gets, he runs into the bedroom where their food is kept and devours what he can before he gets hauled back out of the room. If only I could feed him dry food, my food bill would be reduced immensely. I tried Ruby on dry food today (the Eukanuba Venison and Sweet Potato) before I added any water or anything else to it, just to see how she tolerates dry food and she did great. I have questioned her diagnosis from day one and am convinced that she doesn't have anything wrong with her. I feel very fortunate to have been able to give them both a home - they are such great dogs~~!!

[Lara Kretler]

Wow, that is quite a story! Ruby and Morgan are very lucky to have you, that's for sure. Sounds like they eat like royalty, the way all our ME dogs seem to. My other dog wishes she could have some of Jack's "meatballs" and would gladly sit vertically if she could have just one! ;) Thanks for sharing this. I love happy endings.