Monique Y. Mudama wrote:

It honestly seemed like she would rather starve than eat that
food. We went through most of a case (20? 24? cans) of this
flavor before I caved.

Wow! That's a lot of cans. I wonder if there was something not quite
right about that food? I would expect a cat to eat anything edible if
it's really, really hungry (to the point of actually losing weight),
but maybe if the cat thinks there's something wrong with the food,
they won't eat it no matter what.

DH also says that if she's really hungry, she'll eat. But she got
skinny enough that I was afraid to call her bluff.

I think you did the right thing by changing the food. This isn't just a
case of a cat being finicky and manipulating you. After she refused the
food over and over, I think you correctly interpreted that she does not
want it! But please don't feel guilty about it - if she appeared to be
eating it, and continued to act normally, then you would have no reason
to think anything was amiss. Once you noticed her weight loss, then you
were alerted to her eating patterns. I can't imagine how you would have
figured it out any other way.

Joyce