Hi there,

Yes, it does sound like she has tapeworms. Honestly they don't really do much harm in the dog's body. They are gross, that's for sure.

That being said however, in an older, small breed dog they could cause problems. The tapeworm absorbs nutrients through its skin as the food being digested by the host flows past it. So they could potentially be sucking nutrients from her body.

The only way they get tapeworms is by eating fleas so you need to treat your dog and your house/environment for fleas as well as treating her for the tapeworms.

There is only one dewormer that kills tapeworms and it's called praziquantel. It is an ingredient in Drontal, Drontal Plus and the heartworm prevention called Iverheart.

So, if you want to deworm her first to see if that will make her feel better I would recommend asking your vet to dispense the dewormer. Usually they will especially if you were just there for her exam and shots. It should not be expensive. Unfortunately there isn't any over the counter tapeworm dewormer.

You can also give her 1/2 of a 10mg Pepcid AC tablet once a day for the next few days. This will help settle her stomach since she vomited.

If you treat for the tapeworms, treat for the fleas and give her the antacid (Pepcid) and she isn't much better I would recommend you take her to the vet for an examination. At her age there are many things that could be going on that may not be necessarily related to the tapeworms and it may not have been evident to the vet at the time of her examination.

I hope this helps. Let me know if you have more questions.

Dr. Hinson