I am sorry to hear about max's pain. I have a 14 year old named BuddyBear,he was on metacam for 2 years for joint pain.It worked wonders for him. but after 2 years of use it started to damage his liver. I took him off of it and started to treat him with acupuncture and glucosamine and a product called duralactin.the treatments did not work quite as well,but better than nothing.If the metecam makes him feel better keep using it,but do bloodwork to check his liver values. Good Luck