Best Dog Foods For Dachshunds: Nutrient-Packed Eats For Doxies!

Blue Buffalo is a brand that is often recommended by vets and breeders for smaller dogs like the dachshund. The Freedom line is, as the name alludes, grain free and entirely based on natural meats, fruits and veggies.

Like many premium dog foods, the meat component makes up a little over 70% of the formula composition. The chicken used is a combination of deboned raw chicken, chicken meal and chicken fat.

This combination makes for a good protein profile and is low in fat (80% protein/20% fat), something that is good for a breed like a dachshund that often may need an extra eye kept on the weight management aspect of their diet.

Some pet parents are a little concerned when they see 'chicken meal' but it is not a filler (as some mistakenly believe) but simply a dehydrated form of the meat and in fact by removing the liquid the protein is concentrated, making the chicken meal three times as high in this essential element of any dog's diet than the raw meat itself.

The inclusion of chicken fat provides other essential nutrients, including Vitamin B6, phosphorus and omega-6 fatty acid.

Other ingredients that come high on the ingredient list include peas - which are another good source of protein - flaxseed, which is exceptionally rich in Omega 3 fatty acids - blueberries and kelp.

Blue Buffalo is somewhat different to other dry dog foods as it contains what looks like dark, moister 'bits'.

The company calls these 'lifebits' and they are essentially a vitamin supplement for dogs (like the one you perhaps take every day) but in kibble form. They include a wide range of vitamins and minerals along with the amino acids taurine, L-lysine, and L-carnitine.

Taurine is often included in dog foods because it is believed that it aids in heart health while the L aminos help convert fat to energy and muscle mass and helps keep your furkids body lean. 

There is no soy, corn or wheat and is both gluten and grain-free, with 373 kcal/cup.

Per parents who have chosen Blue Buffalo Freedom for their dachshunds tend to be very passionate about it.

They praise the fact that the taste seems very endearing to their pups and that the kibble seems to cause fewer stomach problems than other dog foods they have given their 'doxies' in the past.

A number do also comment it does seem to help a pooch who is slightly overweight trim down.  

As we have been discussing some dachshunds are prone to gaining weight rather quickly, the reason that some pet parents turn to a specialist weight management food like Fromm Weight Management.

The Fromm formula's protein profile is made up of turkey liver, duck, chicken, lamb, eggs, and cheese. This is a very protein heavy line up but the meats used are all lower fat than traditional red meats like beef and so that helps with the weight management side of things. The kibble is also 'fortified' with the amino acid L-Carnitine, which helps convert fat into energy more efficiently, aiding the efforts to keep a dachshunds weight under control even further.

You may be wondering where the cheese - which is actually billed as Real Wisconsin Cheese - comes in, especially as some people believe cheese is a little too calorific. Here though it is only used in smaller quantities and offers the benefit of extra protein and Omega 6 fatty acids.

Pet parents who feed their furkids Fromm Gold Weight Management are obviously usually concerned with maintaining the pup's weight and most feel it does a great job while also reducing stomach upsets. Unlike many human 'diet foods' owners also report that their pups seem to love the taste and the smaller kibble size is easier for a small breed dog to chew and digest.

Most experts do feel that any pup's diet should consist of a mixture of dry and wet dog foods. Fromm Gold is not a weight management product like its sister product but it is a great source of lean meats and vitamin-rich fruits and vegetables.

Although Fromm Gold is available in a number of flavor profiles, it is the chicken that is most often recommended for dachshunds as chicken is a leaner source of protein than beef or duck.

The formula is a relatively simple one: minced chicken in chicken broth with carrots, potatoes, and peas (which almost sounds like a human comfort dinner) that is supplemented with additional amino acids to aid digestion.

Some of the biggest fans of the Fromm Gold formula are pet parents who have occasionally cooked their dogs food from scratch themselves and not always having the time to do so have turned to this formula instead and have found it to be comparable.

And when a tinned dog food can appeal to the "wiener" as much as a home cooked meal does that can't be a bad thing!

The Blue Buffalo Freedom Grain-Free Puppy recipe is very similar to the adult version of the kibble that we have already discussed but it does add a few extras to help meet a growing puppy's additional nutritional needs.

It's made with protein-rich, deboned chicken and has the all important nutrients essential to a growing Doxie: Calcium, phosphorus and vitamin A. The  "puppy-sized" kibble is perfect for your pup's smaller jaws and helps to remove tartar too. 

In the case of this formula, the 'lifebits' are also fortified with extra DHA and ARA, which are fatty acids found in mother's milk and choline which helps support the function of the growing brain, nervous system and cell health.  

The analysis shows that the Blue Buffalo Freedom Puppy has 27 percent crude protein and 16 percent crude fat. It has 403 kcal/cup which should provide plenty of calories for a small Dachshund puppy.