Lady was on Rimadyl for several months and it was like a miracle drug. Then, she began having some problems. In particular, she had several vomiting episodes (very unusual for her) and very bad diarrhea. In addition, she had some discoordination, for lack of a better term --- nothing terribly bad, fairly slight, but enough that I noticed.
Her liver enzymes were fine, but I took her off the Rimadyl for now. And because I'm uncertain of her health history (a former neighbor literally gave her to me --- it was me or the pound), I am giving her a break from the prescription remedies.
I've been giving her buffered aspirin (much to my vet's distress) once a day for about a month, and it's working so far with no ill effects. Lady is up and running around --- still a bit cranky boned, but she has dysplasia so that's kind of to be expected.
If I knew what her health history was, I really wouldn't hesitate tyo put her on another prescription med. But the discoordination was really disturbing for me. It hasn't happened since I pulled her off Rimadyl and the vet couldn't find any physical explanation for it.
That said, if her dysplasia takes a turn for the worse, I WILL put her back on a stronger med. She has made it quite clear to me her quality of life is important to her --- she loves running and playing, and gets very upset when she can't. So quality of life will prevail if/when her dysplasia progresses, and I will put her on the prescription meds.