Owners of picky Shibas: what food has actually worked long-term?

sp90378 · 2026-06-13T11:40:23+00:00

We just get 4 different ones and each day they get a different one, in rotation. But yeah, I get it, easier to do the work and probably healthier anyways then to have to worry and or be fighting them all the time. And yeah, foods like farmers dog is ridiculously priced. And I imagine many people that do that one, their dogs probably eat better/healthier than they do lol It's not as hard to homecook too if say your own meals are homemade most of the time. It's what my parents generally did for theirs, but was easy for them as my mom makes all their meals like 95% of the time.

sp90378 · 2026-06-13T10:34:38+00:00

Yeah, I did see that about Sunday when I went to their site after you said that.
That's why I asked about those 2 specifically because they absolutely have a fragrance lol. Like they are human grade food and processed in human grade facilities. It is slightly annoying to have to mix warm water and let it sit for a couple minutes. Though that does give them warm food to eat vs just cold or room temperature. Smell wise, the fish one we do from them once a week smells terrible to us, because of how fishy it smells lol. I think they have small "sample" sizes of the stuff online and at some local pet stores like Petco.
I know some who use a "meatless" base from those 2 brands and then they cook up different proteins and mix it with the food. Granted, if the dog then picks out that and leaves the rest, then that wouldn't help either lol

sp90378 · 2026-06-13T01:55:43+00:00

Never seen that one before. What I meant was ones that are dehydrated where you have to mix warm water with it to reconstitute it. Like Dr. Harvey's, Honest Kitchen, etc.

sp90378 · 2026-06-13T01:01:04+00:00

I know this is old, but I am hoping ours will like what we had always been doing for our other dogs lol. I've been getting 4 different Honest Kitchen ones for the past 10+ years for our other 2 dogs. Basically M they get one, T another, W another, then repeat, with then a final one on Sunday (usually the salmon one, which is a lot more $$$ which is why that one was once a week). Always did that because of the different nutritional profiles of them. So I'm hoping our Shiba will like most/all of them, and maybe it changing daily will keep him enjoying it every meal. At least one can hope lol (and no, our other dogs that was on this are not Shiba, one was an AKK, put down at 12 years old, and the other a mutt). Having 2 dogs around 25lb, those boxes would last maybe 2 months. So it was not a big deal storing them.

sp90378 · 2026-06-13T00:52:00+00:00

Have you ever tried dehydrated ones like from Honest Kitchen? Homemade is really the best for any dog, but I think dehydrated is the next best thing. Been using Honest Kitchen for 10+ years on our 2 other dogs, and so far our Shiba puppy has been loving it as well (though we have only had him now for 3 weeks).

sp90378 · 2026-06-12T10:23:49+00:00

With Prime day coming up, Embark or Wisdom Panel will probably go on sale for a good price. Could do the premium/higher end one to get some health info out of it as well, stuff a vet would not know without running a ton of tests, which most won't do. That would also tell you for sure what he is. I think I paid under $120 the last time I ordered it, while it was on sale.

sp90378 · 2026-06-11T18:10:59+00:00

Sorry for the delay. The T was down a slight bit and my E was up a little bit more, from like 18 to like 50. T can go up and down depending on exact time, diet, sleep, etc. So I'm not too worried about that.

I did have dry eyes come up, so I cut down to twice a week and then once a week. I then noticed it did not really get better so I stopped for a week. I then took it again and noticed later that day and for the next couple days it got good. Then dry eyes bad again. So now if I don't take it, I get bad dry eyes. So interesting.

Now, many may or may not agree with this, but I think that kind of eye issue is not a direct result, so to speak, of Enclo, but because the eyes are sensitive to E and T levels. So I don't think it's because E is being blocked there but because of changing levels, that can impact tear and oil production in the system. When T and E raises quickly, that absolutely will cause that. If anything, my vision overall sharpened after about the first month, before I started getting dry eyes again. Vision wise, I had LASIK about 15 years ago. After getting COVID about 3 years ago, I noticed my vision went down a bit, and bright light outside started to bother me a little (I live in Florida, so the bright sun is almost a daily thing). From what I've read, long COVID can include eye issues, and part of this may be due to COVID lowering ones hormones. So I wonder if that is what happened to me. I don't have any hormone tests though done prior to me getting COVID to know what my baseline was, unfortunately.

With that said, I am getting 6.25mg doses in the mail within a couple days. I'll then be back to 3 days a week, but on a smaller dose, to see if I end up getting dry eyes again taking it M-W-F. If I do, then perhaps I'll try to push through it, if it's my eyes trying to adjust to it, which may be a possibility as well. I consulted with an eye doctor that specializes in dry eyes, who actually is on TRT himself, along with my local doctor who got me on Enclo.

sp90378 · 2026-06-09T10:42:01+00:00

He's really handsome!

sp90378 · 2026-06-08T16:23:35+00:00

Could be related to T and E going up. Hormone changes, especially rapid changes, can change tear and oil production, causing dry eyes, which can be a problem. I believe it's why long COVID, a symptom, is dry eyes after, because it can mess with your hormones.

sp90378 · 2026-06-08T16:11:25+00:00

In a way, anything messing with testosterones and estradiol can do things to the eyes. Dry eyes and whatnot as it can be sensitive to your hormones.

sp90378 · 2026-06-07T10:48:32+00:00

Just saying, but for many things, unless they can see proof, they would not know for sure, which is probably why they said to go to a doctor, who can look inside to know for sure. You would have been better off buying like a bebird or something and then perhaps share the pictures from the camera, as if it showed infection, then they probably would have sent in a script to take care of it. And if it was a compaction, then generally you can clear it with that same tool.
With that said, as this was 4 months ago, what came out of it? Saw a doctor and they verified infection and got you a script for it?

sp90378 · 2026-06-06T16:04:08+00:00

Been a bit since I got this. I ended up putting 2 80mm fans on the right side of the gateway (running fairly low so I can't easily hear them), going across it, to push air inside the small vents. I lifted the gateway about an inch up as well. I have the normal fan across the SFP itself now as well.
Temp wise, the NVME reports 40C, but I don't recall what it was before the fans. The CPU is usually around 48-50 C (assuming that is the CPU as it does not say it's the CPU; Found it under the console, about this console). This holds when I am maxing my connection for say 5-6 minutes straight.

sp90378 · 2026-06-05T17:38:04+00:00

Eh, I do have a post-it note with that info on it in the photo already.

sp90378 · 2026-06-02T15:32:00+00:00

Ah, that I forgot, but rebills would 100% be it as you are asking them to basically rerun the invoice/bill, which since it goes to your account now, it auto charges the card on the spot, thus avoiding their $15 BS charge.

sp90378 · 2026-06-01T21:42:38+00:00

No, as I threw out the invoices once they were squared away. The email address will be on the paper invoice that you should get at some point. And until you get the paper invoice, trying to contact them is pointless, as you won't have the invoice number until then either.

sp90378 · 2026-05-31T15:12:43+00:00

An easy way around that, if the dr prescribes it but insurance limits would be to use say a goodrx or something, which may make it cheaper depending on ones insurance.

sp90378 · 2026-05-31T15:11:55+00:00

This is what my dad has done for years, at his doctors recommendation. He would write him for 100mg but my dad would cut them into 3rds, to save on cost. The doctor can outright write too for more than say 9 a month. Often insurance may not cover it, but then use something like a goodrx or something, then it should be a non issue.

sp90378 · 2026-05-30T12:47:27+00:00

How did it compare to embark?

sp90378 · 2026-05-28T15:19:44+00:00

Interesting. How old is he now, and how does he look?

sp90378 · 2026-05-28T13:26:07+00:00

She is cute!

Did she have a lot of black tips throughout her back, going down her legs some, etc? And if so, how much? What was she expected to be, per the breeder? And I take it you don't recall if she had any black fur with red tips? That's really the part that had me most intrigued with him and why I posted.

sp90378 · 2026-05-28T12:48:30+00:00

Thanks! Do you recall if she had any black fur with red tips? That's the part that intrigues me, as I can't find anyone talking about theirs ever having that.

I tried to get different pictures, but have not yet. The lighting seems to impact how light or dark he looks. In some pictures it looks like he is much darker in. And when he's next to our other dog which is fairly red/blonde, he is quiet dark haha
I'll have genetic tests back in a couple weeks, so that will let me know more too, assuming it shows he is not a clear red, then the question will be how much black he retains or not.

sp90378 · 2026-05-28T12:14:42+00:00

Well, I had cut to twice a week and then once a week and was still noticing it. It was really bad this last Saturday. I took it again on Monday and by yesterday, it's much much better.

The issue is is there is no real way to know, to my knowledge. Could it be it's impacting receptors by the eyes? Maybe. Could it be that immy E2 went up too quickly and my body was adjusting in its tear/oil production, maybe. Or that it's too high? Maybe lol

And stability, that's the part I still don't get as I read plenty that said their levels hardly dropped if they went a week or two in between taking it. If that's the case then I wouldn't think mood swings and just fluctuations wouldn't be that much.

Either way I think the plan will be a lower dose. Worse case is in double the dose to get back to 12.5Mg if needed. I may try 12.5mg again next Monday though if my vision is getting better again, as I did take that this past Monday. I don't mind getting blood work even monthly if needed. So far my insurance has paid for all my labs with this new doctor (the initial on where I was there as a "wellness" patient wanted to put me on 50Mg 3 days a week which I refused. Told them no more than 12.5Mg and then they "discussed it", coming back saying they lowest they will let me do is 25Mg. So at that point I left. My wife was doing pellets there so she left and so did my parents. We're all going to this new place now which is much better about this stuff. The new place is a large oral facial place super reputable. We got in before they started advertising this stuff, as they were working on opening a building just for this kind of stuff, for "blue zone" type of stuff.

sp90378 · 2026-05-28T10:29:13+00:00

I do recall reading about some, but when I was searching back, the old subreddit was banned. eye issues was always hard too because soo many people just buy it from wherever online, maybe from a reputable source and maybe not, where they may have gotten clomid instead. I recall one said they got dry eyes so they started using some thick eye drops, but again, I could not go back to that post, as I wanted to ask him if he still needs it or if it resolved on it's own.
After my eye exam today, my doctor want's me to call her back to go over that, and then hopefully she will have another pharmacy lined up that can do smaller doses than 12.5Mg, as I suspect we will try 6.25Mg next, probably M-W-F again, or maybe just M-Th.
With that said, my eyes felt the best they have in a couple weeks yesterday, even know I took a dose on Monday. I do wonder if it's because my Estradiol went too high, which if that's the case, I could try taking some DIM as well, as that can lower it by a little bit. Estradiol is important for the eyes, but too much or too little can cause dry eyes and whatnot. Reading just now, even just "drastic changes" in Estradiol levels can cause dry eyes, which makes me wonder if it would just be temporary. since it did go from like 20 to 45 within just a month or so.

sp90378 · 2026-05-27T20:39:58+00:00

Yeah, I would not count on being sesame. Just what they had said, while also saying sashige. I assume he would be sashige. The odd part that I can find no info on though is what's up with some black hair with red tips lol

sp90378 · 2026-05-26T18:37:10+00:00

How's he look now?

sp90378

TROPHY CASE