It’s all about the gut.
Healthy dogs have great digestion. Dogs (and their humans!) are mostly made up of bacteria, so supporting and nurturing the balance is essential for optimal health. The key to great gut health is feeding a quality balanced diet rich in enzymes, probiotics and prebiotic fibres.
We take gut health seriously!
That’s why we make our own Lacto-fermented foods named “Nelly Belly” and “Baby Belly”, brimming with all the good guys!
Fermentation is a biological process that converts natural sugars into beneficial lactic acid organisms. These probiotics balance and strengthen your dog’s inner ecosystem, offering a powerful defence against harmful pathogens and other environmental stressors.
Fermentation also enhances your pup’s gut function by pre-digesting the food for them. It makes it easier to assimilate and metabolise all the essential vitamins, minerals, macronutrients and disease-fighting phytonutrients that dogs need to survive and thrive.
Nelly Belly
Every adult pack of Whoa Nelly! contains all the bubbly goodness of our signature “Nelly Belly” ferment. This probiotic powerhouse is made by soaking and sprouting buckwheat in a live starter culture that contains over 200 strains of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacteria.
While it sounds like a grain, buckwheat is actually a seed that’s rich in protein, B Vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. It’s a great source of complex carbohydrates and soluble prebiotic fibres, making it an excellent substrate for the fermentation process.
We add organic turmeric and black pepper to our Nelly Belly to give your dog’s immune system an incredible boost of anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant and anti-cancer compounds. Most of the Nelly Belly is minced before we add it to our food, but we leave some whole to give our food a little pop.
You can see Nelly Belly in our food as the little yellow dots. Pure gold! 🤩
Baby Belly
Puppies are pretty special. Their delicate digestive and immune systems require a special kind of nourishment to support them as they develop into strong and healthy adults. That is why each Whoa Nelly! puppy recipe contains ‘Baby Belly’, a gentle gut soothing fermented food made with organic oats, goat’s milk kefir, chamomile, turmeric and black pepper.
We have developed Baby Belly with organic gluten-free oats as they are a wonderful fuel source and home for good bacteria (probiotics) to live in. When fermented, oats also supply a wide range of bioavailable nutrients, including antioxidants and beta glucan fibres that are especially beneficial for your puppy’s immune health.
We soak our oats with organic chamomile tea and goat’s milk kefir. Chamomile is a very safe and effective herb that acts gently on your puppy’s system to calm nervousness, soothe tummy upsets, helps eliminate worms and relieve inflammation. Goat’s milk is a naturally complete food that contains vitamins, minerals, electrolytes, trace elements, enzymes, protein, and fatty acids.
When fermented into a probiotic and prebiotic rich kefir, goat’s milk is transformed into an incredibly nutritious and easy to digest food that closely mimics the nutrient composition of canine milk.
Our Baby Belly ferment wouldn’t be complete without our favourite combo of turmeric and black pepper, giving your puppy an added dose of powerful food medicine.