cat not really interested in *cat* food anymore

I live with two older gentleman, both about 15 years old, neutered (if that matters), tuxedos. my big guy is grey, but this post is about my little black cat, Sam.

also- I know he needs to see a doctor. please understand what I'm asking for now is just a stopgap until we get professional advice from the vet he's been seeing his entire life. I am not looking for medical advice, I'm looking for people who have dealt with something like this or someone creative that can think of a way to make cat food enticing again

**issue & question:** my little guy has (fairly recently) has lost a lot of his enthusiasm for cat food but becomes an absolute feral beast around ANY kind of people food... like to the point where my wife and i have to take turns eating because one of us has to be on guard duty. does anyone have any experience with something like this? does anyone have any recommendations for safe/nutritionally balanced (and let's be real, affordable) people-food I can give him?

**some context:** they get fed twice a day- a scoop of dry for breakfast and then they split a can of wet for dinner. i *know* he's hungry and wants to eat; for years he would get excited for the dry food and then make his way over to dinner whenever he got there, but lately he's been showing up and excited when he hears the dinner can open.... but every time he takes a few bites then walks away. sometimes he'll come back and take a few more bites, but he isn't really chowing down like he used to. also, the kind of people-food he tries to eat doesn't matter. he went the same level of crazy for my salad as he did for the pizza. the only cat-specific thing I've found that he still really likes are those churu type treats (I think we buy a different brand?)

**maybe also relevant information:** our lives are finally settling down after a crazy few months. we had an unexpected move (due to a mold issue in the old apartment) to a much smaller place while I was on a LOA from work in the late autumn/winter which brought on some financial difficulties. the move was stressful, the holiday season was stressful, being broke and completely unorganized was stressful. we noticed that he had lost a little weight after the new year, but I was actually a little pleased with that because before the move my wife could be a little...overly generous...with the treats. I just assumed that he hated moving (fair, i did too) and also picked up on our stress which was stressing him out. eventually we got into a little bit of a routine, but at the end of February I went back to work. he lost a little more weight but I figured that I disrupted the poor kid's routine *again* - I mean, after the move I rarely left the apartment, except for an occasional doctor's visit, then all of a sudden I'm gone 4 days a week for 10/11 hours at a time. i thought once he got used to me being gone more (and eventually I'd be able to work from home again) he would bounce right back. in mid-april I made the *grievous error* of purchasing a case of the wrong cat food and he just about lost all interest in the wet food completely (I got the brand and the flavor right, but apparently we are a Shreds household, not a Meaty Bits household). i admit that it took me a little while to pick up on it because 1) he never really loved the wet food to begin with and 2) historically they'd both been like little vacuums and whatever food I'd put in front of them would be all sucked up before next mealtime. people would give us food all the time that their cats wouldn't eat, all different flavors, brands, textures, and neither had ever been picky before. after I corrected my mistake he started eating a little more again and gained a little weight back.

around this time we noticed that his eyesight didn't seem like what it used to be and we found out that he most likely has a pretty serious case of cataracts. in the past few weeks it's gotten pretty bad. since the move wasn't planned and we had to throw away most of our old furniture, the terrain of the apartment is ever-changing. last week we finally bought a couch which hopefully brings a little more stability to the living room area, but there's still a bunch of *stuff* everywhere because there's nowhere to put it yet. I'm trying to get this done ASAP not even for my peace of mind anymore, but so he can learn where everything is and the poor kid won't walk into things anymore.

I believe the blindness has led to the weight loss issue in two ways:

1. he's always been a little bit of a grazer, but now that he struggles to see i dont think it's worth the effort to him to find his way back to the food once he's comfortable and feels safe.

2. he explores the world with his mouth now, *constantly* licking at things to learn what they are. (for example- we got a new litterbox recently (the old one was a "toploader" they had to jump into and we wanted to make it easier on him to get in) that requires a different litter and I made sure I sat with him the first few times he used it because, sure enough, his first instinct was to lick the litter to figure out what it was.) we've never really given them people food before (a nibble of cheese or a bit of chicken now and then), but maybe now he has a taste for it and doesn't want cat food anymore? idk

it's getting to the point where I dont really care what he eats as long as he's getting calories in him, but I also know that he can't live off churus and whatever nibbles he manages to steal from us. I've thought about getting him kitten food to help get some meat back on his bones, but i don't know if I should or if there's some sort of people-and-cat-food alternative someone, somewhere, knows about