Thanks for the information on the other arthritis meds. You've made me feel a LOT better knowing there's a better option than Rymadil that works. My brother's dog died from liver failure after being on Rymadil, and I was petrified about my little guy going on it. Thanks again!
A lot of dogs don't have trouble with Rimadyl, but some of them do and it seems really hit or miss. I had read about Labs having more trouble than most with it, but even so we used it occasionally on our dog when she was having a bad day, kind of like the way humans use Advil for headaches.
But once she started needing it full time we asked her surgeon (she had throat surgery in March), who was VERY sharp (probably sharper than our regular vet) what she would do if Lucy was her dog and she said Metacam hands down.
There's still no guarantee that any given dog won't have a bad reaction to it but overall it's had a better reputation.
One thing I recommend - have a blood chem panel done on your dog before starting it (if you ever have to put yours on it) and then peridically afterwards, like every 3 to 6 months. This can pick up liver and kidney issues before they get out of control.
Any of the NSAIDS (Rimadyl, Metacam, Deramaxx, and Etogesic) can cause liver or kidney problems in some dogs, particularly if the dog has a weakness in that area to begin with.
Another thing to look into is a natural supplement called "MSM" - I think it's methylsufonylmethane or something like that. Many glucosamine/chondroitin makers compound it into their products as it's a pretty good natural anti-inflammatory. If your current product doesn't have it in you can always ratchet it up to a product that does if the current stuff stops working on your dog.
Glycoflex comes in 3 levels, and we progressed through them over 5 years as our dogs arthritis got worse as we were trying like heck to stay off the NSAIDS. The "high test" has MSM in it and quite a bit of it, and worked well for her for 2 years.
We also puncture a fish oil capsule and put it in her food in the AM. We had heard it had anti-inflammatory properties so figured it was worth a try. It maybe bought us another 6 mos before we had to go on the NSAID, worked a little but wasn't a magic bullet....
Hope that helps, I know what it's like dealing with this with a beloved elderly pet.
LQ