I have noticed recently that my 9 year old cocker spaniel seems to have 'slowed down'
His appetite is fine and he still loves his walks/swims!  He just seems to have suddenly got "old" . 
I cant see any signs of illness - should I be concerned?

I don't know about your breed, but one of my girls is 12 this year and she still runs around like a 6 month old.  Unfortunately her mother was very fit until 12 years of age and then quickly went down hill, within a matter of 3 weeks.

Have you had your dog checked at the vets and had his/her eyes checked?  If you are worried |I would get her checked out.

Thanks for your reply spanishwaterdog.  I think I will just get him checked out, I dont know about his parents because he
was given to me by a neighbour 2 years ago.  He had been enormously overweight for a lot of years and although he has
managed to lose some weight he is still larger than he should be.  I do worry that his earlier lifestyle may effect his overall health.
We are having a puppy in May, I am also hoping he will enjoy a livlier companion!

If you get him down to the weight he should be I am sure you will notice a difference.  Like humans, we can still be lively with a weight problem when young, but it is not so easy when older ;)

He will enjoy your new puppy more too if he is fit and active enough to play with it.

Have a go a cutting his food down, a little at a time over the next month.

Sandra

Thanks Sandra, that does make sense - I know I feel better when I lose a few pounds!

I also mentioned about eyes because they can of course suffer with eye problems, which again may be why your dog seems to have aged all of a sudden.  It's always worth just getting them checked out to make sure that theres not something else going on other than general old age.

Hope everythings OK :d

I will take him to the vets.  He did have an ear infection about 6 months which was discovered when I had taken him about something else.  He is in the water a lot - are they at a higher risk of eye infections too if they swim?

Not necessarily, but they do suffer from glaucoma which can come on suddenly and can cause them a lot of pain.  Of course with swimming they do sometimes get yucky ears or water left in there :d 

I had a 12 year old collie X GSD who I thought got old really quickly and the vet could find nothing wrong. However, I requested that I went to see a specialist as this was really out of charater and came on very suddendly. I was told by the specialist that he had cancer and he died the next day on his own. The only difference is that my boy went off his food for the last week.
I don't want to alarm you, but definately get your dog checked out