Little Bo

[SHABASHOE]

my 3 year old male maltesse is throwing up, he is drinking water but throws that up to. I don't think he has gotten into anyting because he is always with us if he's not in his crate during our work hrs.

[SHABASHOE]

Awesome! Your advise is very helpful and I appreciate it. I have much larger animals so I'm not sure on what to do for such small babies. He has now not thrown up in over 24 hrs. and is drinking smaller amounts so I will try the Gatorade and buillon or maybe even some pedalite since I have left from my little girl. I was wondering when his appetite does return what type of diet should I offer him? I was thinking that his regular dry food would be heavy and maybe something canned with rice?? What do you think about that idea?
Lisa

[Ghilly]

Excellent!  It sounds like you've got a good game plan there.  Chances are he's just dealing with some kind of quickly-passing bug, but it's good to know that you are ready to take further action should the need arise.  One other thing you can try, as far as keeping him hydrated, if he starts to not want plain water you CAN give him regular old original Gatorade, or you can take a beef or chicken buillon cube and dissolve it in about 3 cups of water to entire him to drink more.  Buillon is extremely salty and while diluting it 3 to 1 might make it too bland for human tastes, dogs have a MUCH more sensitive sense of taste so it will have plenty of flavor in it for him at that ratio without overloading him with sodium.  Please keep us posted on his condition.  

Ghilly

[SHABASHOE]

Thank you for your reply. Since noon I have given him pepto twice with a little water as well, so far he's kept it down. I've checked his gums and they are not pale so that's good I think. He's pretty much just laying around but a few times when I talk to him he does wag his tail. We did go outside and he did wet so i'm thinking that's a good thing too. His vaccinations are up to date, at least that's what I was told and his paperwork showed when I got him about 6-8  weeks ago. Really making sure he stay hydrated I know that's important and if I don't see that he's feeling better soon then a trip the to vet will happen.

[Ghilly]

How long has he been throwing up?  Withhold all food for the next 24 hours but truthfully, if he has been throwing up all day, if he is still throwing up by about 6:00 this evening you need to take him to an emergency vet.  Maltese are tiny dogs and, as such, can dehydrate very quickly.  If he hasn't been able to hold down any water at all today he MAY need IV fluids to rehydrate him before his electrolytes go all out of kilter.  If that happens you could have a dangerous situation on your hands, so it's not worth taking the chance.  

As far as the reason for the vomiting, it's possible that he caught a bug somewhere.  Are his vaccinations up to date?

Ghilly