Cat will only eat dry food when I hand feed it to him

[runekeeper]

I wasn't sure if this belonged in Cat Health, Cat Nutrition or Cat Behavior, so my apologies if this is in an incorrect place.
I'm talking about my cat Kip over in the Health section now regarding his weight loss, but something about his eating habits has changed along with the weight loss that has me genuinely stumped. He has a constant supply of kibbles (UTI protection and kitten chow) available to him at all times for grazing, and he seems to prefer the UTI food. However, one way for me to get food in him is to sit in front of him, facing him, and place kitten chow kibbles in front of his face a few at a time. Usually he hesitates and does that thing where he looks at the food, looks at me, sniffs the food, looks at me, and so on a few times before the light bulb goes off that it's food.

Doing this, I'd say I can get him to eat a handful of kibbles in one sitting, which is probably a normal amount for a cat to eat at one time. I feed him until he stops eating. He never did this when he was a normal weight, and I began doing it when I noticed he'd dropped a few pounds. Kip is a smart kitty, but it seems almost like he needs me to put his food under his nose as if to say, "This is food. You should eat this." He's an older kitty - at least 10 years old, not totally sure since I don't know how old he was when I got him. His sense of smell certainly works when it comes to things like deli meat and meat baby food, but the kitten chow does have a rather subtle scent. I stuck my nose right in it and I could hardly smell anything.

Is there any reason why he won't eat food out of the same bowl he's been eating out of for years, and will only eat kibbles that I hand to him? I desperately want him to gain weight, and the kitten chow is not only more dense with nutrients, but I think it's easier to chew and digest since it's made for smaller kitty mouths and teeth. Maybe he likes my scent on the food? I haven't a clue what brought these bizarre eating habits on.

 

[Willowy]

Will he eat canned food? It certainly is stinkier than dry food. Fancy Feast makes a kitten food that's fairly high-calorie. I've used it for elderly/sick cats before.

 

[Willowy]

Oops, I just read the other thread. . .he won't eat that anymore either. I'm going to guess that's it's dental trouble. Resorptive lesions are quite painful, and any kind of dental issue can get into the sinuses and affect the sense of smell. Hopefully after his dental work he'll be good as new!

Oh, will he eat cooked meat? You can make a balanced cooked meat diet for him, I have to do that for one of my cats. If he doesn't want to chew you can put it through a food processor. Here's the link to one site with recipes: http://www.dogcathomeprepareddiet.com/index.htm

 

[runekeeper]

He does like cooked meat. Usually any time I cook chicken or turkey or beef, I'll give him some and he eats it just fine, along with deli meat. And he also seems to like meat baby food. He won't be going to the vet until next Thursday, but I'm hoping whatever is wrong is an easy fix. Poor kitty needs to gain some weight and not even the kitten chow has helped and he's been eating it for a few months. When my female kitty would eat it, she gained weight like crazy. I'd say she easily put on 4 pounds in a month. But she also ate it about every 2-3 hours each day because she had a ravenous appetite (no she wasn't hyperthyroid either, just a very powerful metabolism).

 

[katluver4life]

If he is good at eating cooked meat that's great!. As Willowy said you could make him his own cooked diet. 

  Have you tried any of the canned foods such a Weruva paw lickin chicken? It is shredded chicken. It would be a good test to see if he eats it. Then you'd at least know maybe he just doesn't like dry, or it hurts to eat it if he's having dental issues right now.

 

[runekeeper]

Actually, it's the other way around with him: he won't eat canned food anymore, but he does eat kibbles. Judging by the stools in the cat box, obviously he is eating something, even though the kibbles in his bowl often look untouched. A little bit ago I hand-fed him again and he always does the same exact thing...he looks at the food, sniffs it, then looks at me and I have to point at it several times before he starts to eat it. Then he buries what he doesn't eat in his blanket, which is a behavior he's developed recently. The funny thing is I leaned over him and snuggled him, and he started eating the few kibbles that were still in front of him. I don't know why the heck he needs me to hand feed him all of a sudden. It's like he doesn't understand that it's food and he can eat it.

I'm not sure if canned food will work. I don't know if he's just sick of the Purina food I've been giving him or he's just sick of canned food altogether, and he's proven in the past he won't eat shredded wet food. I don't know what is with him and this sudden pickiness. I gave him milk earlier and he didn't want it, but he kept sniffing around a bag with some old rotten, stinky potatoes in it and he was eating bits of random stuff off the floor. This is especially weird considering he's a former stray; while I get a stray might have food issues, I never thought it'd be this kind. How is it that crunchy kibbles are okay to eat (though I think he swallows them whole sometimes) but not canned food? I try just leaving the food out for him and he doesn't even bother with it and it turns into a big crusty heap. I can't imagine it's a matter of smell because wet food is very stinky, but his kitten chow has a rather subtle odor. I wonder if he'd eat wet food if I hand-fed it to him (I mean with a spoon and I scoop it in front of him a little at a time).

It's just strange. I don't know if it's too painful to eat, if he can't smell his food anymore, or he's lost his appetite. I've never seen a cat act like this before, but act normally otherwise.