Find The Best Dachshund Dog Food For Your Pooch

Dachshunds are one of the most popular small dog breeds in today's time, and have been so for quite a while now.

But, and as you'll read later on in this article, Dachshunds are a special kind of breed that requires a special kind of dog food. More on this in a bit...

One of the most prominent reasons for that is their overly-sensitive digestive system that requires you to feed them a dry dog food formulated with dogs with sensitive stomachs in mind. Nobody wants to see their four-legged friend suffering in pain after choosing the wrong food...

The following list of best food for Dachshunds is by no means the be-all-end-all resource on this subject, it is however a great list of our top 5 dog food choices for Dachshunds that we wholeheartedly believe in after extensive amounts of time spent on researching.

The Top 5 Best Dachshund Dog Foods

Top Pick: Wellness CORE Natural Grain Free Dry Dog Food for Small Breeds
Pick #2: Blue Buffalo Small Breed Chicken & Rice Dog Food
Pick #3: Taste of the Wild Dry Dog Food, Pacific Stream Canine Formula
Pick #4: Nutro Ultra Small Breed Adult Dry Dog Food
Pick #5: Royal Canin Dachshund Adult Dry Dog Food

*Note: The links in the table above, as well as several links in the remainder of the article below, will take you to over to Chewy.com where you can find out more information about the products, such as current prices and customer reviews.

In our honest opinion, the best food for Dachshunds you could go with is the Wellness CORE Natural Grain Free dry dog food, and specifically the small dog breed formula choice.

This has everything you would ever look for in a premium, high-quality dog food, and also tops it off with the fact that it's formulated with dogs that have sensitive stomachs and digestive systems in mind.

We'll get back to this later...

Not only that, but this dog food has an outstanding 38% protein, way more than could be found in other dog food products combined.

And these protein sources aren't some useless ingredients that will make their way outside your Dachshund's system the same way they made their way inside it, they're major-quality, animal protein sources such as De-boned Turkey, Turkey Meal and Chicken Meal.

We did notice that the 4th and 5th ingredients on the ingredient list are potatoes and peas respectively, which means that the carbohydrate content in this dog food is somewhat higher than other dog foods out there that is another thing to discuss as well.

However, there's no real reason to worry about this since it's still within the realm of very acceptable percentages for your Dachshund.

Besides, it's not like the carbohydrates found in this dog food are sugar, syrup and corn - on the contrary, they're very high-quality, complex carbohydrates like vegetables such as sweet potatoes, peas and carrots, and fruits like apples and blueberries.

This Wellness CORE Natural dog food gets our #1 recommendation for the best dog and best puppy food for dachshunds, hands down.

Making its way as our #2 pick on the list of the best dog food for Dachshunds is the Blue Buffalo Life Protection Small Dog Breed formula, one of the best choices you could go with when it comes to dog food for Dachshunds as well.

Probably the only reason we've included this as our #2 choice and not #1 choice is the fact that this dog food contains a bit less protein content than our #1 choice, and we've established time and time again on this website in many different articles that protein is THE MOST IMPORTANT element in any dog's diet.

With that being said, we're taking nothing away from Blue Buffalo on this one, because the protein, fat and carbohydrate content in this dog food is nonetheless outstanding if you plan to feed it to your Dachshund.

The protein sources are also of highest quality, coming from examples such as de-boned chicken and chicken meal.

The most prominent source of carbohydrates in this dog food is oatmeal and brown rice, so you might actually want to go with this one rather than our #1 pick listed above in case your Dachshund is more fond of oatmeal and brown rice than they are of potatoes and peas.

Pick #3 - Taste of the Wild Dry Dog Food, Pacific Stream Canine Formula

Considered by many as one of the best dog foods in the dog food industry (with many people constantly arguing that it IS the best), Taste of the Wild Pacific Stream Grain-Free dry dog food is our #3 pick for this list.

Besides from being grain-free (which is a necessity when we're talking about a dog with a sensitive stomach and digestive system like the Dachshund), this dog food also gets full marks from us when it comes to overall nutrient profile for weiners.

But what we liked the most about the food is actually the fact that the most of the protein here comes from smoked salmon, making this food rich in omega fatty acids for healthy skin and shiny coat.

Our pics #4 today is Nutro Ultra Small Breed Adult Dry Dog Food. It's specifically made for small dogs such as Dachshunds.

The ingredients are very well balanced to promote the overall health of the small breeds.

The protein here comes from many different sources, such as farm-raised chicken, salmon, and pasture-fed lamb helping to develop healthy lean muscles and support the high levels of energy.

Amino acids, sunflower oil and linoleic acid is also there to help your pups coat and skin to shine.

Boasting a very well planned out nutritional profile with absolutely no artificial colors, flavors or preservatives, this dog food meets our criteria for Dachshunds.

Last but not least on our list is the Royal Canin Dachshund Adult dry dog food, which is formulated specifically for the needs of Dachshunds. 

The good quality protein, which makes up to 29% of the recipe, and l-carnitine here assures your dog has enough protein to maintain the muscle tone.

But even more important - it has all the dog needs to maintain healthy joints and bones: calcium, glucosamine, and chondroitin.

Let's not forget this kibble is made according to all the needs of the Dachshunds - this even involves the shape, which is created specifically for the facial structure and the jaw of these pretty dogs.  

A weiner dog will weigh anywhere from 15-30 lbs on average (plus or minus a few pounds in some cases, with the majority of Dachshunds being on the heavier end of the scale), except if we're talking about miniature Dachshunds, which can weigh around 10 lbs or less.

An average adult Dachshund that weighs around 25-30 lbs will need around 800-900 calories a day for if they're getting a decent level of physical activity, while the miniature version of Dachshunds will require much less than that amount (think somewhere along the lines of 400 calories, much similar to a very active and growing Maltese puppy.

And, as we always state in these "top foods for certain dog breeds" lists, your dog's daily caloric requirements may be very different than those of other dogs, depending on their age, their activity levels, their metabolisms and whether or not they have been spayed and/or neutered.

If you're looking to maintain your Dachshund's energy levels throughout the day and not have them lay around the house all day long feeling lethargic and not being productive at all, you have to make sure that they're getting enough fat from their diet.

Around 8% of their diet coming from fat should be more than enough for growing Dachshund puppies, while around 5% of their diet coming from fat should suffice for adult Dachshunds.

Given that Dachshunds don't really have much of a long coat, you won't have to worry about meeting their daily dietary fat requirements for the sole purpose of maintaining coat quality. You'll have to worry about them getting their daily dietary fat requirements for other reasons.

Complex Carbohydrates

Nothing groundbreaking for you to consider here, just follow the good old suggestions you'll always hear about dog food and carbohydrates and make sure the dog food you feed your Dachshunds doesn't contain empty calories like sugar and useless filler like corn, wheat and soy.

If you feed your Dachshund a dog food high in low-quality carbohydrates, then your Dachshund can get overweight (and even obese) in no time.

Common Dachshund Health Problems

Despite the fact that Dachshunds are known to suffer from certain health problems, they do enjoy a relatively long lifespan, longer than many other dog breeds out there.

Dachshunds are known to live for around 13 years, which is about a year or two more than the average dog breed, with some Dachshunds even living up to an impressive 17 years of age!

Here are some of the most common health problems Dachshunds suffer from, which we should take into consideration when we formulate a diet plan for them.

Keep in mind that some of these health problems are genetic and you can't really do much about them, while others are a result of poor lifestyle choices and actions that stack up over time.