Whoa Nelly Dog Food

24/03/2025

We’ve been selected for the Feedspot top Dog Food Blog list. It’s a list ranking the best dog food and nutrition blogs worldwide, including Dog Food Advisor & Truth About Pet Food.

Pretty chuffed to come in at #20!

21/03/2025

Happy weekend! 😄

19/03/2025

Why is dog food sold in the pesticide aisle?? 😩

13/03/2025

If your dogs has issues with their a**l glands, the solution is not to get the glands expressed 💩

Manually expressing healthy a**l glands can cause long term trauma, which often results in inflammation, infection and reoccurring health problems.

The reality is that healthy a**l glands express themselves. If your dog has glands that are not doing that, there is an underlying issue which needs addressing.

The great news is that this a common issue that can be easily resolved!

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬?
Dogs have two glands that sit like ni***es on either side of their a**s. The glands produce an oily scent that is added to their poo. The scent is used to mark territory and communicate with other dogs.

They are the reason that dogs sniff each others butts!

The glands work by emptying from the pressure of passing a stool. If your dog makes healthy firm poos their glands will naturally express.

However if your dog makes sloppy, watery or loose stools then the glands will be unable to naturally release themselves. Instead, the oily substance in the glands builds up as it thickens. This can result in irritation, inflammation and an infection in their bum. Gross 🤢

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐞𝐬?
The most common cause of a**l gland issues is gut inflammation and soft poos. Which is why this is almost exclusively an issue with dogs fed processed dry food. Even the expensive kibble causes a**l gland issues. The problem is the with make up of the food itself.

There are three main causes of a**l gland issues in dogs:
1. Diet
2. Gland trauma
3. Gland location

𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐭 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬
Kibble is different from raw food both in ingredients and in processing. Dry food almost always contains low quality ingredients (even the “premium” brands), and the high temperature processing results in low digestibility and an increase in the water content of stools.

Ultimately this means that kibble fed dogs produce poos that are not firm enough to naturally express the a**l glands.

Kibble manufacturers try to combat this with ingredients like beet pulp to “bulk up” the poo. This is like having a vitamin supplement with your Big Mac - it’s probably not going to work.

Dogs eating a high quality raw diet produce healthy firm poos. Invariably this means they do not have issues with their a**l glands or need them to be manually expressed. Eating a biologically appropriate diet keeps the a**l glands healthy and functioning normally 🐾

12/03/2025

Our supplier had organic purple carrots this week, so we had to give them a try! They have twice the amount of carotene and more antioxidants than regular orange carrots, while looking more like a beetroot. Pretty interesting mix and they smell delicious.

Heads up they're in our Beef & Chicken and Kangaroo & Chicken recipes this week so the food is a slightly different colour 👀

09/03/2025

CYCLONE UPDATE 🌨

Hope you are all safe and dry. I’ve just been to the kitchen and thankfully we still have power.

At this stage we will be packing orders tomorrow and delivering as usual on Tuesday.

We appreciate that many homes are currently without electricity, so we will do our absolute best to accomodate late orders as they come in.

Hopefully we are through the worst. Nelly is over it and can’t wait to go for a walk!

05/03/2025

With the cyclone looming we decided to do our entire production today in case we can’t get to the kitchen tomorrow. Happy to say we have a freezer full of food - thanks to some help from our little friend!

Stay safe everyone ❤️

24/02/2025

Profound advice from 400BC. Every problem has a source, every illness has a cause.

Modern medicine is focused on relieving symptoms, rather that fixing the underlying problem. Maybe that's because there’s less money to be made if everyone is healthy. But maybe it’s because the modern lifestyle isn’t as healthy as we’d like to think.

The reality is that one in three dogs in Australia gets cancer. 41% are overweight or obese. A shocking 50% will experience chronic disease. That’s a lot of sick dogs 😵

So what is making all these dogs sick?

The processed diet that most dogs subsist on seems like a good place to start. It’s certainly backed up by the research!

Studies in humans show that diets high in ultra-processed foods are linked to adverse health outcomes like an increase in chronic disease, reduced quality of life and a shorter lifespan. Hmmm.

Studies in dogs show that fresh food provides superior nutrition, improves digestive health, gives a healthier skin and coat, improves mood and behaviour AND increases lifespan by up to 2.5 years.

Makes you wonder.

Maybe we need to give up what's making them sick?

19/02/2025

In breaking news, Colgate Palmolive have just bought a Prime 100 for $500,000,000. It's set to become a part of the Hill's Pet Nutrition division alongside Science Diet kibble.

The New York-listed consumer products giant is best known for dish soaps and toothpaste brands, but has been growing its exposure to the pet sector.

12/02/2025

10/02/2025

What’s going on with Bird Flu?

This week a new variant was detected in Victorian. While it's a worrying development, all previous outbreaks in Australia have so far been contained. It is hoped our excellent biosecurity will continue to keep us safe 🤞

Sourcing good quality human-grade chickens and proper food safety practices is always the best way to keep your dog safe.

As for Whoa Nelly, we use beautiful Inglewood Organic chicken in our food. These chickens live outside and are super healthy. In my opinion these are the best chickens in QLD!

That said, it’s a real concern so I contacted Inglewood to ask about their safety procedures.

They assure me that they are watching the situation closely and have robust biosecurity protocols in place. Their SEQ farm is quite remote and not near other poultry farms which reduces risk.

In addition Inglewood have recently invested in netting their range areas, which helps prevent contamination from wild birds.

We feel very confident in the quality and safety of the Inglewood Organic chickens we are using in our food. That said we will of course continue to monitor the situation going forward.

As for eggs, the supply issue with eggs is being compounded by major retailers moving away from caged eggs. This is causing massive disruption in the industry as they pivot to free range - but is obviously a fantastic and necessary development.

Unfortunately it means that egg prices are unlikely to drop any time soon.

Overall it’s a concerning development for Australia, and we are keeping a close eye on it to make sure our raw dog food is always safe and amazing quality.

06/02/2025

When to transition your puppy to adult food? The answer is when they stop growing, which depends on the size of breed.

Here’s a general guide:
Small Breed - 12 months
Medium Breed - 15 months
Large Breed - 18 months

The key is to keep an eye on your dogs development. Once they have reached 12 months and stopped growing you can transition them to our adult food.

There’s no wrong answer here! Just use your gut to make the decision after they are at least 12 months old.

29/01/2025

Lots of new dogs at the moment so please let us introduce ourselves 👋

We are Jimi & Tory, the 2 nutritionists behind Whoa Nelly Dog Food. Jimi is a canine nutritionist (HATO) and Tory is a human nutritionist (Batchelor of Health Science). Our aim is to improve the life of every dog that eats our food.

Our focus is on creating the best nutritional foundation for your dog using fresh organic ingredients, naturally fermented probiotics and functional foods like organic turmeric and spirulina.

We believe that the secret to a long & happy life is an amazing diet. In clinical practice we found that most health problems can be resolved or significantly improved simply by getting the foundation of nutrition right.

Issues like chronic scratching, red spots or bumps, sloppy poos or being a bit stinky are all things that we regularly fix just with the raw dog food we make.

We have three main principals:
🥦 All nutrients from whole foods
⚖️ Balance the fats & minerals
💩 Help the gut to be happy

By taking this approach we see a dramatic improvement in nearly all the dogs eating our food. It still blows us away!! We are very grateful to be able to do what we love for a living, and hopefully are having a positive impact on the people and dogs in our community.

We hope your dog loves our food ❤️

Jimi & Tory - Whoa Nelly!
Canine Nutritionist (HATO)
B. H. S. (Nutritional Medicine)

23/01/2025

We've been asked if our food contains horse meat as we are named Whoa Nelly. We'd like to confirm we are not horsing around 🐴

16/01/2025

We're back! Here's gorgeous Louis checking out his Whoa Nelly delivery this week 🤩

08/01/2025

Pot of gold 🌈

01/01/2025

Happy New Year! 😄

23/12/2024

Merry Christmas everyone!! That's our last delivery for the year. We'll be back 14th January. Hope you have a fun & relaxing break over the holidays. See you in 2025! 🎄🏄‍♂️🐾