Hi Jeaneene-
Everyone here has offered good advice and given good suggestions. I wanted to touch on a couple points that people brought up and elaborate on them. Firstly the Beneful…unfortuntely Beneful is well known as a very poor quality food filled with artifical dyes, corn, by-products as the only source of animal protein and propylene glycol which is the second cousin to the main ingredient in anti-freeze. Your transition to Blue Buffalo was met with diaherra because like others said, when dogs each the same food for several years they no longer produce the healthy flora (bacteria) in their gut to be able to handle a dietary change. This is why many dogs switching foods need to be transitioned for much longer than the normal 7 day period. Now, I don’t consider Blue to be that great of an all natural food, but it is a much better food than Beneful and that will also contribute to diaherra. A lot of times dogs bodies will detox poor quality foods when fed a better one.
My dog used to have a “sensitive stomach” as most people call it and once I started to give him a digestive supplement during food transitions and kefir/yogurt as a probiotic his whole life changed. I change his food constantly now with no digestive upset what so ever. Lately hes even had one food for breakfast and something different for dinner.
Second point I’d like to make is that the theory about dry food cleaning a dogs teeth is a myth and was debunked a long time ago. Dogs teeth are carnivorus and are meant to tear and rip flesh, they dont have the grinding motion humans do and therefore often don’t chew their food enough for the dry to benefit the teeth. I feed both wet and dry and brush my dogs teeth regularly and his teeth are in good condition.
Lastly, concerning the UTI. I have only experienced it with a cat and yes he was put on the feline Urinary SO dry, which I now find a strange recommendation as the top reason for crystals is eating all dry food. Adding wet to the diet even if it is the RC canned food would keep his system flushed as someone suggested as well. If you are planning to continue feeding the dry I would highly suggest adding a canned food as well and also when the vet tells you he needs to be on an rX diet for life, that is wrong info and a way to get your money. You can certainly in time transition him back onto a normal HEALTHY diet. I would suggest something other than Beneful and transitioning very very slow.
I wish you a lot of luck dealing the the UTI though, I know how awful it can be to see your baby in pain like that.
