10 Best Dog Foods for Chiweenies – 2023 Reviews & Top Picks

The Chiweenie is a cross between the Chihuahua and Dachshund. Although they’re quite small, they are a high-energy dog that needs a good source of protein to maintain good health and development. You will also need food that your dog enjoys the smell and taste of, and that meets your budgetary target.

There are plenty of options when it comes to choosing the best food for Chieweenies, including grain-free and grain-inclusive, and with a selection of meat-based proteins to aid in your dog’s development and muscle maintenance. With so many choices, you can be sure that there is an option to match your needs, but the options can be baffling at first glance. We have put together reviews of the 10 most suitable Chiweenie foods to help you find the right food for your four-legged friend.

Quick Comparison of Our Favorites in 2023

The 10 Best Dog Foods for Chiweenies

1. Ollie Fresh Dog Food Subscription – Best Overall

Chiweenies take after their Chihuahua and Mini Dachshund parents, often weighing between 5 and 12 pounds. The mixed breed’s diminutive size puts them at risk for overfeeding and obesity. Your spunky little dog needs tasty food that meets its dietary requirements, and that’s where Ollie comes in.

The subscription-based company produces fresh, mouth-watering recipes like Beef With Sweet Potatoes and Turkey With Blueberries. Ollie prides itself on using premium ingredients like meats sourced from the U.S. and Australia. Its recipes are free from artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives. All fresh recipes come vacuum-sealed and must be kept in the refrigerator or freezer.

Check out Ollie’s Baked Beef and Chicken recipes if your pup likes the crunch of kibble or if you need shelf-stable dog food. If you can’t decide between fresh or baked, you don’t have to! Ollie offers a split subscription so your Chiweenie won’t get bored at meal times. High-quality food, an attentive customer service hotline, and a money-back guarantee make Ollie our #1 best overall choice for your Chiweenie. If you’re on the fence about trying Ollie, the company offers a discounted starter box for your pup to sample. While the brand is not available in stores, Ollie has flexible, convenient subscription options.

Overall, this is the best dog food for Chiweenies we have found.

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2. Purina ONE SmartBlend Dry Dog Food – Budget Buy

Purina ONE SmartBlend Formula Dry Dog Food is an inexpensive dry food that has a solid 26% protein ratio at a great price. It also has extra minerals, although these do not appear to be chelated, which means that your dog will not be getting the full benefit of their inclusion in this food. Despite this, Purina is potentially a good source of B vitamins.

The primary ingredient in this food is lamb. High on the list of ingredients are rice flour, whole-grain corn, and whole-grain wheat. Corn and wheat are low-cost grains. They do have a high protein rate, but meat is preferred as a higher quality protein source.

One especially controversial ingredient found in this food is menadione. This is offered as a source of vitamin K, which isn’t usually considered an essential vitamin, and this particular source can cause liver toxicity and allergies.

It is a grain-inclusive formula, and SmartBlend does use several ingredients that might be considered cheap fillers to help keep costs down, but overall it is a decent-quality food at a very decent price and represents the best dog food for Chiweenies for the money.

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3. Wellness CORE RawRev Dry Dog Food

One food that doesn’t contain cheap filler ingredients is Wellness CORE RawRev Grain-Free Dry Dog Food. Its main ingredients are deboned turkey, turkey meal, and chicken meal. Also high in the list of ingredients, you will find freeze-dried turkey and chicken fat. This food derives a lot of its protein from meat sources, and it has a high level of protein. In fact, Wellness CORE is listed as having 38% protein!

A raw food diet is touted as being closer to a dog’s natural diet. Proponents claim that it yields shinier and healthier coats, teeth, and improved energy levels. Opponents say that there is a greater risk of bacteria from the raw meat, while raw bones can pose a choking hazard to your dog.

Even if you do want to feed your dog a raw food diet, it is viewed as being difficult. There is considerably more preparation involved compared to simply pouring kibble out of the bag and into the bowl.

RawRev food combines the best of both worlds. It is a packaged food that is ready to serve so it doesn’t require lengthy preparation, but it offers the required constituent ingredients of a raw food diet. However, this reliance on meat protein and natural ingredients does increase the cost, and you should expect to pay more for this food than any other. In some cases, it costs a lot more than standard kibble.

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4. Blue Buffalo Life Protection Dry Dog Food

Blue Buffalo combines natural meat, fruit, and vegetables with the brand’s LifeSource Bits. LifeSource Bits are a combination of nutrients and antioxidants that further aid your dog’s health.

The primary ingredient in the Blue Buffalo Life Protection Formula Dry Dog Food is deboned chicken. It also contains chicken meal, brown rice, oatmeal, and barley. This food is grain-inclusive, so it should be avoided if your dog has an allergy or sensitivity to this type of food.

Additional ingredients include menhaden Fish meal, which provides omega-3 fatty acids that not only protect your dog’s health but also their coat and skin. Flaxseed supports this with omega-6 fatty acids. Other beneficial additives include B vitamin supplements and the minerals are listed as chelated, which makes them easier for your dog to absorb.

The Life Protection Formula contains 26% protein, which is about average for a food of this type. It does contain garlic, which is a somewhat controversial ingredient, but it is found in a low enough quantity that it should be safe for consumption. The ingredients also include dried yeast, so this food should be avoided if your dog has a proven yeast allergy.

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5. Rachael Ray Nutrish Just 6 Natural Dry Dog Food

Rachael Ray Nutrish Just 6 Natural Dry Dog Food boasts that it only contains 6 natural ingredients, although it does have added vitamins and nutrients to ensure a fully balanced diet for your dog. The primary ingredients are lamb meal, brown rice, ground rice, dried plain beet pulp, chicken fat, and natural pork flavor.

Additional ingredients offer potassium, zinc, vitamin D, and vitamin B supplements. The additional minerals are chelated, which means that they bind to the protein and are better absorbed by your dog, who will digest a greater portion of the minerals in the food. However, there are no probiotics, which are added to dog food to help with digestion and to maintain good gut health.

This food only has a 20% protein ratio, which is below the recommended level and should be a lot higher if it is to benefit your dog. However, there are no truly controversial ingredients listed in this food and its price is reasonable compared to others.

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6. Gentle Giants Canine Nutrition Dry Dog Food

Gentle Giants Canine Nutrition Dry Dog Food is a dry food with a 22% protein ratio that lists its primary ingredient as chicken meal. Other major ingredients are pearled barley, brown rice, oatmeal, beet pulp, and chicken flavor. It uses natural flavors to make the food appealing to your dog and, despite the name, it is considered a suitable formula for dogs of all sizes including your Chiweenie. It is inexpensive food and it does have some good quality ingredients.

Chicken fat may not sound appealing, but it is high in linoleic acid, which is a beneficial omega-6 fatty acid. Also, while other variants of food from this company contain menadione, this formula does not. The ingredients also contain chelated minerals and probiotics. Chelated minerals are better absorbed by your dog, so he gets the benefit, while probiotics aid in digesting the food and promote good gut health.

Unfortunately, 22% protein is very low, but if you’re looking specifically for a low protein diet, the cost of Gentle Giants will be appealing.

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7. Taste of the Wild Pacific Stream Dry Dog Food

Taste of the Wild Pacific Stream Grain-Free Dry Dog Food is a fish-based dry food that is suitable for dogs of any size and breed. The main ingredients listed in this food are salmon, ocean fish meal, sweet potatoes, and potatoes. Other notable ingredients include salmon meal and smoked salmon.

The Taste of the Wild has 25% protein, which could be higher, especially if you have an active Chiweenie, but a good amount of this protein seems to come from fish sources. Taste of the Wild is about average in price, and the additional minerals are chelated. Chelated minerals are preferred in dry food because they have greater bioavailability.

The ingredients also list several prebiotics and probiotics, which means that the food should be easily digestible by your dog, and will help to promote good gut health.

There are a couple of controversial ingredients in the food, with the most controversial being canola oil. This ingredient is a beneficial source of omega-3 fatty acids. It is also sometimes, although not necessarily, derived from genetically modified rapeseed.

• See Also: Our Detailed Review of Taste of the Wild’s Dog Food

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8. Iams ProActive MiniChunks Dry Dog Food

Iams ProActive Health Adult MiniChunks Dry Dog Food is a dry food designed with smaller kibble chunks that are easier for your Chiweenie to digest. It contains 25% protein and lists chicken as its primary ingredient.

Other major ingredients are corn, sorghum, and dried beet pulp. These ingredients are considered lower quality. They bump up the protein level without offering much additional nutrition, although proponents of beet pulp do point to its benefits for good intestinal health and blood sugar management.

The ingredients also include chicken fat and flaxseed, which are good sources of omega fatty acids. Unfortunately, the listed minerals are not chelated, which means that your dog will not absorb all of them, and the ingredients also list caramel color. Caramel color is an artificial coloring and is not required in dog food, because your dog has no food color preference, so it is primarily included so that the food looks more appealing to you.

This food is not suitable for dogs with grain allergies, but it is reasonably priced, and the size of the kibble makes it suitable for small and toy breeds.

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9. Merrick Lil’ Plates Grain-Free Dry Dog Food

Merrick Lil’ Plates Grain-Free Dry Dog Food is a grain-free food that is aimed at small breed dogs like the Chiweenie. Its main ingredients are deboned beef and lamb meal. It also contains pork fat while a combination of salmon oil and flaxseed provides omega fatty acids.

There is a range of added vitamins and minerals, which are chelated, and some of the listed ingredients are probiotics that improve the digestibility of the food for your dog. This food has a high protein ratio of 38%, but a low fiber of just 3.5%.

It is also an expensive food, despite having alfalfa meal listed as one of its ingredients. Alfalfa meal is a part of the straw family, is low cost, offers minimal benefit to dogs other than calorific content, and is most commonly found in horse feed rather than in premium dog food.

Potato protein is similarly low cost and of minimal benefit to your dogs. All in all, this is an expensive food and it does have a high protein level, but a low fiber rate and it contains some low-cost ingredients that offer little nutritional value.

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10. Instinct Raw Boost Recipe Dry Dog Food

Instinct Raw Boost Small Breed Grain-Free Recipe Dry Dog Food is a grain-free food considered suitable for small and toy breeds. It is only available in small bags and it is the most expensive food per pound on this list. It also has 36% protein.

Its high cost is partially attributed to the fact that it is another food that offers the benefits of raw feed, without the hassle of preparation, but its cost is very high. However, its primary ingredients are duck, chicken, and herring, as well as tapioca and dried tomato pomace.

The inclusion of tomato pomace can be controversial, especially in expensive and premium food.

Its health benefits remain disputed and many owners still consider it to be a low-cost filler.

Some varieties of this food contain canola oil, which is another controversial ingredient because it can be derived from genetically modified rapeseed, and the side effects of GM foods are still unknown.

Final Thoughts

Your Chiweenie needs and deserves the best food: a food that is high in protein, which will aid in your dog’s development and muscle maintenance. The food should also contain good levels of fiber and a host of other vitamins and minerals that provide a balanced and varied diet.

There is a great range of food that is suitable, and we hope that our list of reviews has helped you make a better-informed decision of which is best for your requirements.

While writing our reviews, we found Ollie’s Fresh Dog Food to offer a good protein level, derived from impressively high-quality sources, along with amazing convenience.

For those with a tighter budget, the Purina ONE SmartBlend Formula Dry Dog Food. It offers a similar protein level while being more affordable, although it does contain menadione and some cheap filler ingredients.

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Featured Image Credit: Destinee Marie Sims, Shutterstock