One of my dogs has major arthritis issues and is still quite young. Goldie was injured when she was a stray and never given treatment. Her back hips are very painful. She takes Meloxicam every day. It's the human version of Metacam. Much cheaper for long term use than Metacam. The only side effect so far is Goldie is a different dog. She's happy, she plays, she runs and wrestles and she's lost a few pounds! She gets bloodwork every six months. It was more often when she first started but she's been on it for 18 months now.

We've used Rimadyl for short-term extreme pain relief only--after Muskwa got kicked by a horse. He did very well on it, but it was only for a week or so.

I give my three old timers antler dust. My f-i-l is a antler carver and he saves all the dust for me. You can buy it in health food stores. I don't know if there is any scientific proof that it works, but my three haven't gotten any worse since they started it.