Soulistic Upstream Dream - is it supposed to be so tough?

So I fed the kiddos the Soulistic Upstream Dream this morning for this first time. I opened it and it looked like a fishy cat food. Then I put the spoon into it. It was almost as hard as a rock! I cut through it with the spoon into fourths. I thought about whether or not I should try smooshing it for the cats, but it just didn't seem very... smooshable? So I just dumped a quarter can into each bowl, as our pairs of eyes anxiously awaited.

They all attacked as they normally did. Oliver likes most things, so he was good. Maple, my kitty on a diet (and for whom I forgot to leave out kibble last night). walked away from her food after a couple of licks, investigated what Penelopy had, then left! Penelopy left not long afterwards, after having only a few bites.

Oliver proceeded to finish his, then go finish off Maple's. No surprise there. Oscar devoured his portion - he seemed to really enjoy how tough the food looked - then went over to finish off Penelopy's. Oscar almost finishes off his own portion, much less one of the other's. But he actually seemed to genuinely enjoy this! He just gnawed at it like it was fresh prey, even taking it out of the bowl and holding it with his paws.

Amy question for anyone that has tried this one before - is Soulistic Upstream Dream supposed to be this tough? Is all Soulistic like that? I paid quite a bit for it, and while I can't control my cats liking/disliking something, I was a bit taken aback by how solid it was.

It's like super-firm Jello right? I haven't fed Upstream Dream but that's how their Aromatic Chicken is, too. And some chicken/fish food that I don't remember the name of. I fed it once to the cats as a treat and one got such a gassy and very audibly grumbly stomach that it went on the "never again" list! That said, the Aromatic Chicken was a big favorite with Brooksie when she was sick: I think the phosphorous was lowish and she, like your Oscar, even seemed to enjoy taking clumps of the food and gnawing on them. (It was very strange how she found her inner carnivore in her final months!)

And no, not all Soulistic is like that. Some has gravy (the chicken/pumpkin, for example) and the Chicken Dinner, which also says it's in gelee (I think that's what they call it, right?), is much softer: it's a rather unusual blend of shreds, pate, and softer aspic stuff. Our cats really love it.

This one was just a bit too expensive to have half my cats not liking it This one says it's in "gelee" also but it was so hard I was checking the date on it! I was thinking there was no way this was supposed to be like that. But, the date was well into the future.

At least my two boys liked it, especially Oscar. Would have been especially upset if they all hated it. Oliver is a hoover so eats most things but Oscar, well, I was shocked, needless to say!

I was also shocked that Maple walked away from it, since she didn't get her kibble last night so I knew she was hungry. This is the cat always giving me that, "WHY are you STARVING me?" look. I'll definitely have to just give it to the boys next time. I'm almost afraid to refrigerate it after that though - will it be in a rock-like state??

Donutte said:

This one was just a bit too expensive to have half my cats not liking it

This one says it's in "gelee" also but it was so hard I was checking the date on it! I was thinking there was no way this was supposed to be like that. But, the date was well into the future.

At least my two boys liked it, especially Oscar. Would have been especially upset if they all hated it. Oliver is a hoover so eats most things but Oscar, well, I was shocked, needless to say!

I was also shocked that Maple walked away from it, since she didn't get her kibble last night so I knew she was hungry. This is the cat always giving me that, "WHY are you STARVING me?" look. I'll definitely have to just give it to the boys next time. I'm almost afraid to refrigerate it after that though - will it be in a rock-like state??

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I accidentally bought one of the ones in gelee. The aromatic chicken I think and it was the same way.  it looks soft like Jello but it's much more firm than that. I think it's supposed to be like that. I had a hard time smooshing it into the dishes too. I have to do that with all of their food. They ate it but it wasn't a big hit. I haven't bought any since. 

Yeah the gelee ones are a weird texture. My cats don't really care for it, so i never buy them.

I have to say, it was kind of nice to see Oscar actually enjoy eating something so much. Since I have it, I'll feed it to him and his brother maybe twice a week every other week, and give the girls something else. If I haven't run out by then, I'll make sure to get a can for their 1 year birthday too, but it definitely won't be part of my regular rotation.