[countsj]

Cocker Spaniel doesn't want to eat.
I have a 5 year old cocker spaniel, she was a throw away, left to fend for herslelf, she ate trash and left overs all the time. When we got her she had Girardia and was matted cold with big balls of ice on her paws. We took her in put her in a warm bath, called the groomer and took her to the vet. Despite the girardia she was pretty healthy. We got her January 22nd and in the last couple of weeks she doesn't want to eat. I am feeding alpo canned food since that is the type of food she seemed to like until lately. She loves to walk and go to the beach but when not doing that she wants to sleep a lot. She plays but not a lot. What can I do to make her want to eat. I offer her 1/2 a can in the moring and again at 5:00pm. She always begs when we eat and will eat anything that is hand fed to her, even her alpo. She weighs 25 pounds, she was only 19 pounds when we found her. I don't want her to loose what weight we managed to put on her.
Her name is LillyWe are getting ready to take a trip and I am worried she won't eat for the sitter. What can I do?

[paleophlatus]

Well, two things... she likes people food by now, and has found that she will get some if she just holds out. There may be a medical reason behind this too, so a trip to the vet would be well within the sphere of a good idea.

Looks like this is the third thing... If she isn't comfortable with the 'sitter', you may find it beneficial to have them get to know each other better. You're 'disappearing' may worry her enough that Lilly may stop even eating out of the sitter's hand, which, if the sitter has to resort to it, won't make it any easier to get Lilly to eating dog food.

[Aurora_Bell]

I agree with having the sitter come and meet Lilly before hand and spend some time with her. Will Lilly be going to her house or will the sitter be coming by on scheduled periods to feed and let her use the bathroom?

If there is nothing medical than I would set her food out for her and walk away. No healthy dog will starve himself, and in my experience, especially not a street dog. Survival is embedded in them and they don't soon forget what it was like scavenging for food. I would have the vet once over her for any broken teeth or other issues that might be causing her to loose her appetite. Is Lilly on a regular worm treatment now?

I am a big dog food nut, I am not a fan of commercial brands. I try to stick with holistic foods. If you are planning a food change, you might want to look for something a little more healthier. Blue Buffalo is a great brand in the U.S. I would also feed a hard kibble along with the soft. Soft food tends to reek havoc on their teeth. Kibble doubles as sort of a tooth brush as well.