Aspirin should be your last choice of NSAID not your only choice. Talk with your vet about Deramaxx or Metacam. Is your dog on glucosamine chondroiton? That can help to repair the cartilage. You can buy a human grade product or a brand specifically marketed for pets (Cosequin, Glycoflex.)

My dog's been on Rymadal, then Metacam---yet plain ol' aspirin seems to give her the most relief.

Can you explain WHY aspirin should be my 'last' choice? Since, as I say, we're more concerned with day-to-day relief than long-term health issues?

I used to use Ascripton on my old gal. It contains Maalox to help prevent stomach problems. Ask your vet the dosage. We also moved on to Deramax for the arthritis.

Best of luck to you.

My mom gives her 16-year old arthritic border collie mix one BABY aspirin every morning, on a graham cracker with a little bit of peanut butter. Seems to have helped a lot-- on the rare morning where the dog doesn't get her aspirin, she's noticeably stiffer and slow to get around.

Syd's been getting a full-sized aspirin stuck into a Vienna sausage every AM for a couple of months now, and recently I've also started giving her one every evening, too. She's shown no signs of gastric distress, but the aspirin no longer seems to be covering 12 hours of relief. (I understand this well---back when my arthritis was REALLY bad, I was taking two every 4 hours!)

Basically, I'm asking for in put from medical personell as to just how often I CAN give them to her. I'm NOT looking for suggestins about other forms of pain relief, just dosage info.

I needed this info for my DD too. We gave enteric coated aspirin to our 60lb. lab, but I couldn't remember the dose. Plus her dog is much bigger. I just googled aspirin for dogs and found this: You may want to do your own search.

Aspirin (dogs only)
Aspirin is ok for dogs, but not for cats. To reduce stomach irritation, use buffered aspirin or give aspirin at mealtime. For chronic arthritis pain, we have prescription drugs that are much safer and far more effective. Giving your dog aspirin more often than twice a week is a probably a bad idea.

Use 5 grain (325 mg) aspirin tablets.

A 60 to 80 lb dog may be given one tablet twice a day (every 12 hours) or 1/2 tablet three times a day (every eight hours). A 30 to 40 lb dog gets half as much; a 15 to 20 lb dog a quarter as much.

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Our 9 year old cockapoo is going in for surgery for a ruptured ligament in his rear knee on Tuesday AM. He's been on 1/2 a coated aspirin twice a day until then. Vet recommended Bufferin, but I don't think it's available any more. Zillions of anti-inflammatories but no Bufferin. He limps, but when the neighbor's cat came into the yard today, he was all running legs!!!!

Ooops - forgot to mention that he weighs around 40 lbs. Sorry