I hope dear Ellie is still eating like a champ!

Re: water - I use a pitcher with a filter in it, and my cats get that water. Might be worth a try.

I started doing that when, years ago, I had a cat and my roommate had two- and my cat ALWAYS went to the other cats' water dish, which was filtered. Apparently it tastes more like rainwater, cause there is no chemicals in it. I guess cats have really sensitive noses, because I never noticed it. But my cat zeroed in on that filtered water!