Newly adopted cat won't eat unless hand fed...?

She will eat from the bowl when she is hungry. Self preservation is a strong force. She is just lonely from being moved.

I suggest that you get some kitten can food that has milk in it. Let her eat that out of a new cat bowl or a glass one. Slowly incorporate dry kitten food in it (mix it together). Then slowly move her to the dry food. You might have to put a little milk in the dry food at first. Once she gets use to eating the dry food all the time, then you can giver her the can food as a treat. Make sure that you leave plenty of water down for her all the time. Your cat is just probably having trouble adjusting to her new home. She may have been abused or mistreated and this is the only way she knows how to adjust. If she still doesn't start eating soon, then I would take her to the vet. She may have worms or something else.

Good luck.

The best thing would be to contact a dog trainer or your vet for advice - they usually know best based on the breed, experience, and their area of expertise. But from a standard dog owners' perspective, here's my answer: It's common for young puppies to want to eat from their owner's hand; my dog did this, too. This is a good way to make sure that they are eating! She never developed a habit of eating from my hand, though. This may also be a behavior that changes for the better as she grows. Try wetting the dog's food a little just so it's moist (some dogs like their food when it's softened), or even better, use a savory dog food sauce or try wet dog food (canned or packaged). Good luck!

Dry food is not the best diet for a cat. Get some high quality canned food - Natural Balance, Wellness, Innova, Felidae, CA Natural, etc.

The NB and Wellness are available in 3 oz cans and have quite a variety of flavors to choose from. Don't overdo the "fishy" ones.

For some good articles on cat nutrition go to http://www.littlebigcat.com/ and read some. "What Cats Should Eat", "Why Cats Need Canned Food", "Selecting a Good Commercial Cat Food". Those are at the end of about 50 articles on cat health, behavior, diseases and nutrition.

Buy a small, clear glass bowl to put her food in. Do as you had been doing before with the food, putting a little in your hand for her to eat, then eventually putting it from your hand into bowl. The bowl being glass won't give off any unpleasant smells that the other bowl might be doing. It being small she won't feel intimidated by it.

My daughter's cat had the same problem. We think she may have been abused. Here's what worked for her: Open the smelliest brand of canned tuna you can buy in front of her. Dump it into her dish. That should do the trick.

Put her food where shes comfortable, a favorite laying spot maybe. She probably has some seperation issues, thats why she only wants to eat when you feed her. Good luck.

Well, maybe she is frightened by the bowl. Maybe you should continue hand feeding her and when shes a little older she will eat from the bowl.

dont hand feed. youll spoil it. if its really hungry it will eat. Its in all animals nature to eat.

she might just have a sense of security whenever her owner is feeding her and right there with her..