Observations

I've noticed that whenever Conker eats a commercial food for longer than two weeks, he gets a bit mushy, then loses weight. The first thing to go is his muscle tone, so I guess that's why he seems a bit squish. Then the squish begins to go away and he has a hard time keeping weight on.
Normally Conker would be getting about 1.5 cups of kibble for maintenance, according to several sources. However, 1.5 cups for maintenance is not enough, so I upped it to two. Still not as good, slightly better, but he still can't quite keep the good weight on. Or eat it all.

I wonder if this is because on his homemade diet he gets around 850 calories a day (both grain and meat meals), compared to an average of 410 (per 1 cup) on kibbles. Or is it that because of the energy ratios? (Or better yet, is it because one is fresh and the other highly processed? But I'll leave this discussion out for now.) I have noticed that the more carbs there are in the food, the worse Conker's condition gets. But if I eliminate carbs completely, he can't keep good weight on either, so carbs are necessary for him, but in what amount?
Conker's homemade diet is roughly 35% protien, 50% fat, and 15% carbs. That seems to work out great for him. Kibbles tend to be higher in carbs, and I wonder if it's that, or the lower caloric content to nutrient content level.

However, when I bump up his kibble ration, he is still in a somewhat mushy condition and in order to match the calories, I'd be overdosing him on almost all nutrients, sometimes up to double his daily needs. Kibble is very nutrient dense, not not energy dense, when compared to his homemade food.
But when I feed him more than a cup and a half, he often won't finish it all, so I've got to split it into two meals. No biggie, since I do that already with his homemade food, but even then he often doesn't want to finish it so he stays in a less-than-ideal condition.


Another thing is that Conker is growing more and more intolerant of other dogs. Usually rude or larger dogs, and it's becoming quite obnoxious. I guess he is maturing into a "true" Shiba now, and his dog-park time will be cut because of it. If he cannot get along with the other dogs, he's not gonna go. But if they are relatively the same size (give or take a few pounds) or polite dogs, he gets along with them fine.