My dog will not eat

My 5 year old male American Pit Bull Terrier will not eat, and it almost been a week since he at something.  Aside from that, he has been panting really hard and lethargic which is very unusual because he’s very active and I play with him a lot, limps when he walks and sometimes moans. When he started to get sick, I tried hand feeding him and it worked for awhile but then he lost interest of eating except for treats. So far, I haven’t seen him throw up, his patterns of going outside to urinate and defecating is slightly normal (defecating has been slightly off due to him not eating) and drinks water whenever he able to get up. I’m really scared of what he has and I was going to take him to the vet yesterday but our veterinarian went out for surgery and I won’t be able to take him to the vet until Friday or Saturday. Any suggestions?

[Heather5]

Take him to the vet now! I would definitely not wait until Friday...If he hasn't eaten for a week(!!!!!), he needs to be seen ASAP!

I hope he gets better soon!

[ginger899]

Absolutely! If you ring your vet's number, (if there is no-one at the surgery) you will usually get a message giving you an emergency out-of-hours number to call. Do it. Your dog is feeling pretty bad right now. He needs to be seen right away.

[dogmom192]

Yes, take him to an emergency vet now! He probably swallowed something- a plastic bag, a toy, whatever, something that is blocking his system- don't wait- take him in today!

[Kalow]

Well he feeling a little bit better for now, he ate most of his food and kinda played with him to day but I didn't over do it. Though I'm still kinda worried, my sister made an appointment to another vet for my dog, and my sister taking him on Friday due to my job

[mrsharwell]

Could your dog be depressed? Some person or other animal not around anymore? My APBT's eat very little when we are on vacation but they love food so to completely stop eating is a bit scary. Do you live where there is grass? If so when dogs are sick they eat grass have you noticed your dog eating any?