Puppy Vomitting, Diarrhea, Lethargy

Hi, my 13 week old puppy has been sick for 2 days now and the conditions have gotten gradually worse.  Any help would be appreciated.  So I got the puppy last week and brought her directly to the vet for a first set of vaccines and deworming.  She was fine for about a week and then she got to one of my Amazon boxes and ate a small piece of tape.  I would say about 10cm in length and 3cm wide.  I thought nothing of it, but then she began to vomit the food we have been feeding her.  I brought her back to the vet which performed an X-ray (negative on obstructions) and he recommended that I feed her can food for a day.  After feeding her the can food, she began to have diarrhea so I stopped and put her on chicken/rice.  She continues to have diarrhea (bloody) and the vomiting has lessened.  The puppy now has lethargy and sleeps all the time.  It seems that she’s crashing…not sure what to do at this point.  Any help would be so helpful to me.  I don’t want to bring her back to the vet because she’s so stressed when she goes and it seems that she got worse after her visit.

Hello - yes, it sounds as though she may have lost a lot of fluid, through both the vomit and the diarrhoea, making her lethargic.  It is common that puppies vomit first and then start with diarrhoea as the problem moves down the tract.  Unfortunately drinking water only rehydrates a pup by a certain amount, especially if they're still vomitty / diarrhoeic, so if your puppy is deteriorating then it may be that they arent keeping as much fluid down as they should and they may need a drip. As your pup is progressively flat, we would advise seeking an assessment of their hydration straight away because a lot can happen in 24 hours.   I hear that the pup got worse after going to to the vet the first time - but if vets put every pup with vomiting or diarrhoea on a drip straight away, most of them would have been hospitalised unnecessarily.  It sounds as though your vet ruled out some of the most serious causes using radiography (ie made sure they didn't need to operate) before starting treatment.  However, because your pup is so flat and the illness is continuing, they may need iv fluids and it may prove to be an emergency, so please do give them a call in order that they can make an assessment.