First of all, your cat is hyperthyroid, not hypothyroid. Second, thyroid med only stops his appetite if it is overdosed or if your cat is especially intolerant of the med. If inappetance is a side effect of the med (methimazole) for your cat, then there are several options:

1) Give a very low starting dose of the oral med - 1.25 mg twice daily to start with (1.25 mg once daily if your cat has renal insufficiency).

2) If gastric upset results from even a low dose of the oral med, consider trying the med in transdermal form, instead. It bypasses the digestive tract, thereby minimizing or eliminating any gastric problems.

3) Switch from methimazole to carbimazole. Carbimazole converts into methimazole AFTER it leaves the stomach, so it typically causes less or no stomach upset.

Neither barbecue chicken nor cheddar cheese are providing the essential nutrients that your cat needs, most critically taurine. Taurine deficiency can cause heart failure and/or blindness in cats. You need to get your cat on a properly balanced diet, even if that means buying every brand, flavor, and type of commercial cat food until you find SOMETHING that your cat will eat. You can also find homemade cat food recipes on the internet, if you prefer to feed him fresh food. But if you don't balance his diet, and SOON, hyperT won't be his most potentially lethal physical malady.

In the meantime, at least buy some taurine to sprinkle over his food so that you are getting that into his daily intake.

Laurie

Thank you for the fast response. Our shelves, at this time, show 13 different types and flavours - we have tried many. He won't eat dry even slightly moistened.
As to the taurine, we will try for it in the morning. And yes! we understand the value of balance but trying only to get some food into him. Frustrating - he starts okay on one food, leaves it part way then will NOT eat any more!!
Best!

Try the Fancy Feast canned foods. They're not great quality, but they do have very high taste appeal for most cats. Buy all of the flavors and consistencies (pate, grilled, shredded/flaked, etc.). Finely grate some cheddar cheese and smoosh it into the top of the canned food to tempt him to try it. You might also try mixing some warm water into Fancy Feast (cats generally LOVE "canned food soup" that they can lap up) and top it with some grated parmesan. If you get imaginative, I bet you can get him converted to a balanced diet.

Make sure that there is no onion or garlic in that barbecue chicken you're feeding him. Onion and garlic are toxic to cats. In sufficient quantity, they can cause Heinz Body Anemia.

Laurie

I have had good success with Nature's variety raw medallions. I had to mix some bad tasting herbs in one of cats food and using the raw did the trick. You don't have to mix anything in, but the raw proofed to be irresistible. It is a balanced diet.

Here is a link that might be useful: Nature's Variety

Do you have 13 varieties of high end food? Only my Sphynx, who had fish allergies so she didn't usually get wet food, liked the expensive stuff. After she died only one of the other four would eat it, and only if she got really hungry. The rest would eat dry food instead.

My finicky cat just loves the Wellness canned food (chicken & herring)!

I agree about the Fancy Feast. Several years ago one of my cats stopped eating due to advanced kidney disease. The vet recommended Fancy Feast, and it worked. Be forewarned though--as some have called it, it is "kitty crack" and impossible to wean them off it once they get hooked.

My picky cats also won't eat most high end foods (I keep trying to upgrade them a little bit). They generally eat Friskies (canned) & Fancy Feast though they have flavors that they will not eat. They also tend to really like food that comes in a pouch and they like the little cans of Sheeba chicken. I hope you can find something he'll eat. Of course, if he's like mine, when you find something he'll eat, you'd better find something else for the next meal -

One of the frustrating parts of having to switch food is they somehow know if they snub the dish of food, you'll put down a different kind :)