Bunny:

Our 9 1/2 year ancient Shepherd is taking Deramaxx, but not each day and we use as small a dose as will work. It appears to be much safer than Rimadyl. You might want to also place the dogs on Joint Max, and Adequan shots could also be helpful. We also got a reminiscence foam mattress pad for our dog which helped his back considerably. He hasn’t had any terrible side-effects from the Deramaxx. Excellent luck.

clovicat:

I reckon that if your vet is comfortable charitable this to your dog, you can try to trust them. There are side effects to each medication and even to “natural” remedies. It just depends on the dog. Most of these medications grant older pets with a much better quality of life. But remember that there are other things to do, such as try to keep up the light exercise, to keep the dogs’ muscle tone excellent, do not allow them to be overweight, and discuss using nutrient supplements with your vet.
If you ever read the side effect list for aspirin, you would probably be shocked. So don’t let just the terrible things cause you to avoid medication. Remember, all possible side effects need to be reported, even if only 1 in 100,000 pets has it.