Wondering how much to feed a dachshund for optimum health? Here’s our handy feeding guide for sausage dogs and weiner doggies.
For those who have a dachshund, you might be wondering how much to feed a dachshund so they don’t either become too fat or lose too much weight.
Dachshund Feeding Guide
The proper amount of food to feed a dachshund is determined by things like:
- 1. Your dachshund’s age.
- 2. How much your dachshund currently weighs
- 3. The ideal weight your dachshund should be.
- 4. How active they are.
- 5. How many treats do you give them each day.
The goal is to feed them the right amount so they don’t get overweight or underweight.
Their perfect weight might be 1-3 pounds much heavier than their existing weight if your Dachshund is identified as undernourished.
If your Dachshund is classified as obese, their ideal weight maybe 2-5 pounds much less than their current weight (it’s even more typical for Dachshunds to be obese than undernourished).
A dachshund normally requires about 30 calories per pound of body weight on average.
Based on this formula, an adult standard dachshund that weighs 30 can have about 900 calories per day.
An adult miniature dachshund that weighs 11 pounds can have 330 calories per day.
You want to make sure you give your dachshund top-quality dog food that meets their requirements for proper amounts of proteins, carbs, and fats.
How Much To Feed A Dachshund
Based on high-quality dog food, here is a simple formula on how much to feed a Dachshund.
- If your dachshund weighs 10 pounds – 3/4 cups of day
- If your dachshund weighs 15 pounds – 1 cup per day-to-day
- If your dachshund weighs 20 pounds – 1 and 2/3 cup per day
If your dachshund is one year or older, you should feed them twice a day. So divide the amounts of food above by two for each meal.
Feeding the proper amount of dog food will keep them at their ideal weight. This is very important as an overweight dachshund can lead to back issues.
Plus, being overweight may reduce their lifespan by up to two years.
Association of American Feed Control Officials Guidelines
The Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) has specific guidelines for dogs’ nutritional requirements.
Healthy and balanced adult dachshunds should eat foods that have at the very least 18 percent protein and preferably up to 22 percent protein.
And a healthy amount of fats should be around 5 percent for adult dachshunds and 8 percent for dachshund puppies.
Since fats have more calories than proteins and carbs, you want to make sure you don’t give them too much fat.
Most top-quality dog foods will have the proper amounts of fat. Flaxseed and fish oil are also good sources of Omega fats that keep your dachshund healthy.
Not only do they add flavor to their food, but they can keep your canine’s hair healthy and also avoid any skin irritation.
However, you want to be careful when giving your dog table scraps that can be high in fats, as this can cause your dachshund to gain weight.
Carbohydrates are important for energy for your dachshund. However, you want to make sure they get the right type of carbohydrates.
You will want complex carbs such as sweet potatoes, beans, and whole grains
You want to avoid simple carbs, such as corn, wheat, and soy. These carbs burn quickly and reduce their energy.
You’ll need to subtract reward calories from your dachshund’s food each day in order to keep them at a healthy and balanced weight.
In other words, the more treats your Dachshund gets each day, the less dog food they must get at meal time.
If you want to not minimize the quantity of dog food, switch a part of it out for something that has extremely reduced calories like thawed-out green beans (make certain there is no sodium added.)
How Much To Feed An Older Dachshund?
Your dachshund becomes a senior dog when they reach seven years of age.
When they age, sometimes their appetite decreases. Plus, they are not as active and take more naps each day.
You will then want to switch to senior dog food, which has more fiber and ingredients for joints and digestion.
Your senior dachshund should get two meals per day with their senior dog food to help them live longer.
How Much To Feed A Dachshund Puppy?
Your dachshund puppy should be eating premium food with a minimum of 22.5% healthy protein content..
Young puppies have a particularly quick metabolic rate, so they need to be offered 3-4 meals each day to start.
For Dachshund puppies, follow this harsh feeding guideline: 2-4 months old: 4 meals daily. 4-6 months old: 3 meals daily. 6-8 months old: 2-3 meals daily.
Over 8 months old: 2 dishes daily.
You’ll need to subtract reward calories from your dachshund’s dog food amounts each day in order to maintain them at a healthy weight.
Dachshund puppies have a higher metabolism rate than adult dachshunds. That is why they need to eat more often.
Puppies also need a dog food that is high in protein and fatty acids, although there are bad foods to avoid.
If your dachshund puppy is 2-4 months of age they can eat 4 meals per day.
If your dachshund puppy is 4-8 months of age they can eat 3 meals per day.
Then once they are over 8 months old you can feed them twice a day.
Conclusion:
How much to feed a dachshund is determined by their age and activity level.
Again, the goal is to make sure your Dachshund gets the right amounts of dog food along with the right percentage of proteins, fats, and carbs so they don’t lose or gain weight.