Our Beauty took one baby aspirin a day for her arthritis. (She was 11 when we adopted her.) Our vet gave the go ahead for an additional baby aspirin if I ever felt it necessary, but I rarely did. It seemed to help with the pain in her back knees and allowed her to have a better year and 1/2 with us. (Just as a side note, I never would have given the baby aspirin, or any over the counter medication, to her without our vet's approval.)

I use Ascripton

We were told also to use aspirin on big guy when his hips start acting up.

There are a few things you can put in their food, or supplements you can give, if you're uncomfortable with the aspirin, though. I can't remember, I have a sheet somewhere my vet gave me of all the alternatives and what-not. Thankfully big guy rarely gets sore enough for us to bother doing anything, and when he does, it's after long walks and he just sleeps it off. Though the winters are getting harder on the old boy, so maybe this winter we'll have to start doing something.

Aspirin can be OK, but it has a high incidence of GI ulceration, which can be serious or even fatal. Some of the Cox-2 inhibitor specific drugs are considered safer for chronic use, such as Zubrin, Rimadyl, Meloxicam. Few OTC herbals have been tested or proven to work, so it doesn't surprise me that the vet didn't recommend them. But it does surprise me that she recommended aspirin, considering the possibility of adverse effects when other drugs are available.

That said, my old arthritic girl is on Rimadyl, Glucosamine HCl/Chondroitin sulfate, Duralactin, Vitamin E, Vitamin C, and Fish oil. She's also lost 24# since last year so she's no longer overweight. Between everything, K'Ehleyr is much more sprightly at age 9 than she was last year; a remarkable improvement. A non-drug alternative that works is acupuncture, but it does take some committment to stick with the schedule especially at first, IF you can find a practioner. Finally, physical therapy may be of benefit, especially swimming, but that is even more difficult than acupuncture, at least for me. The trick is always balancing what you can do time and money wise with what benefits your dog the most.

If you use aspirin be sure and use a coated one as it can be hard on the stomach and always give after a meal. Cosequin is a suplement for dogs that seems to have a fair amount of research about it. If you go over the counter stuff always be sure the label has a guarenteed analysis on it or you may not be getting what you pay for.

He's very pretty. I've got a 15 year old blue girl.

Lisa

I used Ascription arthritis pills for my old dog Tara and her HD. These pills are coated and are not to harsh on the stomach.

You might also consider giving the pill along with meals and adding a small bit of cottage cheese to the food to help coat the stomach.

SG

I used to give my now 13 y.o. Border collie an aspirin occasionally when he was having a bout of arthritis and it did help but I wasn't comfortable giving it to him daily. As he slowly worsened this year and was having trouble even standing let alone getting up the stairs off we went to the vet. They suggested I try a newer product called Deramaxx that some of his clients had reported success with and so I did. It has been remarkable, the old guy is like a pup again, no stair problems, he can even jump a little not that he was ever that good at it in the first place, and he has no problems now getting up once he's laying down.
The prescription is 100mg tablet of Deramaxx (my dog is 65 pounds). Initially one whole tablet, then half a tablet, then wean down to 1/4 tablet daily and if he does alright on that amount so be it, if not, back up to 1/2 tablet daily. He does great on the 1/4 tablet and that significantly reduces the cost.
30 tablets cost me $90 so at 1/4 tablet per day that's good for almost 4 months.

It's a fairly new product even my sister who is a vet assistant at another clinic hadn't heard of it.

Oh, and at the time I started the manufacturer was giving a free sample of 7 tablets to try before you buy.. not sure if they still do that or not.

My vet just told me baby aspirin.

of al the meds available St Josephs asprin for children or ascripton are the best bets. I would not use Rimadyl on my dog ever - It was once a medication for people and it killed them, it can cause serious liver problems in dogs and if you are going to choose to use it, make certain your vet knows about testing on a regular basis

I used to give my old boy(85 lbs) one low dose aspirin each day when he was in a lot of pain from his hips. They were the coated ones.

They have buffered aspirin for dogs at pet stores and catalogs, chewable so you don't have to force-feed them. You still can't give them with nsaids, though.
Jen

Lucy is 60 pounds. She's a 8 1/2 yr old mutt, rescued as a puppy.
Anyone know how much I should safely give her?size="+2">