Food Fixation?

I intend to change my cat's diet from dry kibbles, as their main source of food ... to canned. Out of ignorance, I allowed my cats to become fixated on their current food.

They have been on the same quality dry food for a few years. They love it. Also, they love the same brand's pouches of wet food...Nutro Complete Care Wt. Mgmt. Pouches.

The pouches contain a little over 3 oz of flat chunks of meat with gravy. If I used only the pouches it would cost over $7 a day for their food. Not an option.

I bought them a regular (non-pouch) can of Nutro adult wet food.... a pate type mix. They sniffed it, looked at it like it was some strange thing from another planet...then ignored it completely. I don't think that they recognized it's texture as food that they should eat.

How do I make the transition from the pouches chunks & jucy gravy, to another texture of canned food. Also I have to get them off dry kibbles as their main diet. Knowlege is power but is also causes challenges like the one on this post.

How do I keep them from becoming fixated on their new food, so that in the future, when they need a change in their diet, it is not such a problem for them.

Finally...is there a top quality, affordable canned food, that has chunks & gravy rather that a pate type texture?
Thanks...

I would make sure the new canned food is in the same flavor - if they have loved a chicken in gravy, make sure it is a chicken - at least until you've gotten them off the pouches.

Something to try: adding plain chicken broth to the new ground canned food, to make a bit of gravy with it.

For two cats, your best bet would be brands with a 12+ to 14 oz. can...I do not off the top of my head know of a lot of brands that do this, so know that this upcoming list is probably too tiny. PetGuard has a number of flavors in that size - turkey and rice, chicken and wheat germ, organic chicken and veggies (but that flavor is way expensive), their Premium Feast and a Fish/Chicken/Liver combo. All of these are a ground texture. Felidae also has it's two flavors (a combo, and a chicken and rice) in a large size. Wysong has a line of all meat - that you would need to supplement, but it gives wonderful options re having something plain and simple and a bit different (one flavor is duck, another as I recall is venison).

Just to get them off the pouches...if you do not for the moment care what food..Friskies has shredded flavors i.e. chicken and salmon that are in gravy, and in a 6 oz. can, plus a second is a turkey and ? (there goes my memory).

Though I do not use this food, and at the moment do not recall if it contains garlic (my choice is not to feed garlic), Precise has a line that is "with broth", and it is considered a premium line of cat foods - comes in 6 oz. cans.

Of course, though not inexpensive, and still hard to find, if Active Life, as I think, are about to get back into production, they are hard to beat - their shredded or chunky comes with a kind of gravy and most cats adore their foods (comes in 5.5 oz, and occasionally you can still find the 7 oz. cans).

I know that Jcat rotates foods with her kitty, and off the top of my head, it's either every week or every several days. I think I'd find 4 flavors or so that they like, offer two one week, rotate to the other two the next then back etc. Just what I'd try, not sure that would work best (gee, I don't sound sure of anything this morning!)

Hope some of this helps (and there is always the option - with the approval by your vet of the recipe and supplements used) of home cooking, which would be less expensive overall.

I just got back from my local PetCo. It appears that most cat food companys have discovered high profits in small cans. As you said, very few make the larger cans now.

After my experience with my kitties fixation on their pouch food...I think that rotation might be a smart idea.

I will look into the other foods that you mentioned. I think that because of cost...part of their diet will remain dry kibbles...just a lot less of it.

Thank you so much, for taking your time, to share some great ideas. I'll keep you informed on our progress.
Edit:...I just read the Innova can that I bought at a feed store...the last ingredient is "garlic." I did a search on this forum & discovered that garlic can damage a cat's red blood cells. I will never use a food that contains garlic. Thank God for this forum.

Felidea makes a big can , soem nutros come in big cans those are pate though... I like petguard and merrick but the can be a challenge to find... I also like eagle pack

Thanks Sharky...your feedback is appreciated. I'll try the brands that you suggested too. If I am going to rotate their diet...I'll need several.