My poor little pom

Question
Dear Karen,

I need some veterinary advise. I have a 2 year old female Pomeranian and from the past 2 days she's been throwing up a lot (not always food, sometimes it's just a transparent Liquid), she hasn't been eating well, she had a little diarrhea.
She's very sensitive and she throws up time to time, but now she almost can't keep her food down.
What can I do to make her feel better?
In a different problem, I noticed that she has been gnawing her front left paw for about a week and a half now (She has few hair and the area's a bit pinkish). I think it might be a fungus. How do I treat it?
I hope you can answer me soon.

My dearest complements,
Joana

Answer
First of all, you should not treat anything until you know for sure what it is... and that requires a diagnosis by a veterinarian. Her chewing on her foot could also be due to a pain reaction. Some fungae can be treated with something like Tinactin, but the dog must not be allowed to lick it off so would have to be in something like an Elizabethan collar.

As to the vomiting, she needs to be FASTED for 24 hours. You also need to pick up her waterbowl so that she isn't tanking up on water. Instead, offer her an ice cube every hour, and as she starts to leave a bit of water in the bowl, then you can gradually start putting in a bit of water and leaving that for her to drink. Watch her for dehydration by pulling up on the skin at the back of her neck. In a hydrated dog, the skin will return quickly to normal, while in a dog that is starting to dehydrate, that skin will go down slowly.

The key is rice. Go out and buy a jar or two of Gerber strained chicken... the plain stuff, not the doctored-up one with onions, etc. (yes, the baby food). Make up a bowl (or a pot) of rice and mix a *small* amount of the strained chicken in it for flavor, and then start offering it to her one teaspoonful at a time. Don't offer any more until you are sure that she is keeping that feeding down. Initially feed frequently.... every couple hours or so.... and as she keeps that feeding down, you can gradually start increasing the amount a teaspoonful or so as the day progresses. (Don't increase too soon initially.) As the amount of each feeding increases, lengthen the time between the feedings, but continue to keep the feedings on the smaller, rather than normal, side for a time.

If things are progressing well by the second day, start adding kibble a couple pieces at a time to the rice mixture. Take your time in getting her back to her normal diet. And backpeddle at the first sign of vomiting.