Whoa Nelly Dog Food

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! 🎄🏄‍♂️🐾

19/12/2024

We’ve been busy! After another sold out week we have completely restocked our freezer for the last delivery of 2024 on Monday. We sell out every year so if you need more food please place your order now!

It’s been a huge year for us. A new delivery truck and “Mike” the mincer has massively increased how much we can make and deliver, which is good because we keep getting bigger! Our growth is 100% organic. We don’t advertise, it’s just you lovely people recommending our amazing dog food to your friends and family.

Thank you Legends!! It’s nearly Christmas 🎄🏄‍♂️

03/12/2024

🎉 We just received our 100th 5 star review on Google!! 🎉

Thanks to you lovely people we are the highest rated raw dog food in QLD! With a perfect 5.0 score across Google, Facebook and on our website - and over 300+ reviews.

We may be just a small business (it’s just the 2 of us) but we strive to make the most nutritious dog food we possibly can. It’s always amazing to hear how our food has improved the lives of your dogs, and we really appreciate you taking the time to let the world know.

Thank you for choosing Whoa Nelly and supporting our business ❤️

25/11/2024

We might need a bigger truck soon 😲

Almost our entire freezer is packed up for orders going out today! This is the busiest time of year for us, so we're making as much food as we can each week to keep up.

The best time to order is Thursday night as that's when I update our inventory. Lots of happy dogs this week!

13/11/2024

How cool do these organic gold beetroots look! 👀

Our supplier had them this week and I couldn't help myself. Grown locally in Forest Hill just west of Ipswich. Hope they taste as amazing as they look!

07/11/2024

How good does this weeks Beef & Chicken look! It's our most popular recipe (and Nelly's fav). Carefully balanced to meet AAFCO & NRC nutrient standards using whole foods only 😲

Here's what we put in it:
🐄 Grass fed beef
🐓 Organic chicken
❤️ Grass fed organs
🥦 Organic fruit & veg
🐟 Sashimi grade salmon
🤗 Fermented Nelly Belly
🫐 Organic blueberries
🌱 Organic flaxseed
🐳 Organic kelp
🍀 Organic wheatgrass
🌿 Organic parsley
🍄 Organic reishi mushrrom
💠 Human grade diatomaceous earth

04/11/2024

Does your lawn look like this? Ours does!

Dog p*e kills your lawn because it is high in nitrogen, the primary ingredient in fertiliser. When your dog p*es on the grass it adds lots of fertiliser to one concentrated spot, which can either kill the grass or make it grow too much - or both 🤪

The nitrogen in your dogs urine is a product of protein metabolism. Keep in mind that dogs are primarily carnivores and need to eat a diet that is made up mostly of meat, so there is no getting away from this.

Side note: plant based protein sources may actually lead to higher nitrogen concentration, so animal sources are best (as well as being nutritionally superior of course).

While lawn burn is difficult to avoid completely via diet there are some strategies that can help.

𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆 𝟭: 𝗟𝗼𝘁𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘄𝗮𝗹𝗸𝘀
This is bit of a cheeky - but taking your dog for a walk morning and night will naturally get them to p*e outside of your house. That’s two less lawn holes a day!

OK, real solutions now 😂

𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆 𝟮: 𝗘𝘅𝘁𝗿𝗮 𝗵𝘆𝗱𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻
One good way to reduce nitrogen in dog urine is to have your dog drink more water. However it is often easier said that done!

The best way I have found to increase hydration is to offer bone broth or water diluted with bone broth. This is delicious - most dogs love it - and is also extremely beneficial to their gut. There is no downside to giving your dog bone broth, just make sure that it doesn’t contain onion.

This idea of extra hydration also applies to your grass. By increasing the amount that you water your lawn will also dilute the nitrogen on it and spread it around. A quick hose when your dog does a wee can be quite effective in stopping lawn burn - but obviously it’s fairly labour intensive!

𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆 𝟯: 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗽𝗲𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗮
The most effective strategy is to train your dog to p*e in a specific location. This confines the fertiliser effects to a single part of your lawn, leaving the majority burn free.

To do this you first need to pick a designated spot for your dog to p*e. Ideally you want them to be relieving themselves on mulch, bark or gravel as it will not affect these surfaces. To effectively change their behaviour around p*eing you need to ensure they no longer urinate unsupervised. Being consistent with this during the training period will help your dog learn faster and make it easier for you as well.

Now we have a spot it’s time to start training. Several times a day put your dog on a lead and take them to the designated p*e area. Don’t prompt your dog, play or communicate with them. Just take them to the spot and wait for a few minutes.

If they relieve themselves then make sure you reward them! Single ingredient dog treats are a great option, alongside praise and affection. And if they don’t go, don’t worry! Just take them back inside and try again later. Consistency is key here. You need to keep doing this simple routine over and over until your dogs behaviour changes (and it will).

This method works best, so if lawn burn is a serious issue, this is the best way to fix it.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 "𝗗𝗼𝗴 𝗥𝗼𝗰𝗸𝘀"?
Dog rocks are sold as a natural solution, removing nitrates from your dogs drinking water. You put the rocks in your dogs drinking bowl and they dissolve. They do not change the pH of the water or of your dogs urine, they just remove some of the impurities from the drinking water.

Anecdotally I have found this method to be ineffective. The issue is urine pH and nitrogen which is primarily produced by diet. Water purity does not seem to be a major contributing factor

And so in conclusion.. it’s very difficult to avoid completely! In my opinion your best options are to train your dog to p*e in a designated area - or to just stop worrying about your lawn 🐾

31/10/2024

Feeding puppies whole food improves their immune system later in life. Imagine if they eat whole foods their entire life! 🤯

(Seriously how is the pet food industry not connecting these dots??)

Microbial exposures in early life may promote a healthier immune system.

21/10/2024

A friend recently asked me to look at a brand of raw dog food. The brand has very nice marketing and a fantastic website. The food is sold as an ultra premium raw dog food - it costs more than Whoa Nelly.

It’s obviously amazing quality right?

A quick look at the ingredient list tells a different story….

Straight away you can see that it contains synthetic vitamins and minerals. Immediate red flag 🚩

Synthetic nutrients are not as bioavailable as real food. Your doctor would never recommend a diet of weetbix and vitamin tablets but that is what most commercial dog food is. This is how cheap food gets away with meeting a nutrient standard like AAFCO - by throwing synthetic supplements at it.

Moving down the ingredient list, it gets worse 🚩

Listed after the vitamin mix was salmon, coconut oil and several other “premium” ingredients. Sounds great - except that a synthetic vitamin will essentially weigh nothing. It will be less than 1% of the food by weight.

Which means there is less than 1% salmon (etc) in the food. These ingredients are listed in name only. They are not there in a meaningful way.

It looks great to see nice functional ingredients on a product label, but they won't improve your dogs health if they are in minuscule amounts. Ultimately the price tag for this brand reflects the quality of the packaging, not the food inside.

Some foods are very cheap with very expensive marketing.

While that thought is a bit depressing, it's not that hard to figure out what is actually nutritious and good for your dog.

Here’s how:
❌ No vitamin or mineral supplements
❌ No ingredients you can’t but at a supermarket
✅ Meets the AAFCO or NRC nutrient guidelines

If you can get these 3 things right you are doing great!