Be careful with Rimadyl - some breeds (especially Labs) react very badly to it. Our border collie mix seemed fine for a while, but had three strokes while on the drug. You can never link it directly, but seeing the posts on the 'Net about this, I strongly suspect an association. Class 2 NSAIDs (e.g. Rimadyl, Deramaxx) are also associated with liver failure - you need to have the vet perform regular blood tests if your dog takes these drugs. These are the same class of drugs as Vioxx (the human pain reliever that was withdrawn because of its association with heart attacks and strokes).
I am not suggesting that you don't use the drug. In our case it was worth it - our dog was so much in pain with hip displaysia that he could hardly stand. It gave him three more years - but (probably) at the cost of three strokes. But have your vet keep a close eye on your dog. If she seems to be having a seizure, one human aspirin administered fast may save her life. Our vet initially said that he had not heard of strokes in dogs, but later said that he thought our dog had suffered a couple of strokes and that immediate aspirin was the right treatment.
Finally, you can get Rimadyl a LOT cheaper from online pharmacies - your vet can give you a prescription for this (free). You enter the order online, then scan and email the prescription to them. You can save about 30% online (or 50% if you buy the generic drug).

Yeah. . .she was on Rimadyl a couple years ago, but I stopped because I did not want to spend over a hundred a pop for regular blood tests.

This vet agrees that at our dog's age, we do not need to do the blood tests.

I am looking at generic caprofen. Do not need it to be chewable. Sursurration, what online vet pharmacies have you used?

I would recommend Drs Foster-Smith, as they have been around for a while and have a good reputation.

By the way - this web page is where I got the information about Rimadyl's effect on Labs. This was a topic of much discussion a few years ago (when our dog was put on the drug). Our vet seemed completely unaware of the side effects - I suspect they are better informed now.

A treatment that you might also consider if the pain is bad is a short course of prednisone (a corticosteroid drug, taken orally or by a single injection). This reduces the inflammation and swelling and the effects last for a few weeks or months. You can also get injections of glucosamine close to the joint causing problems. One of our neighbors used this approach and it seemed to help her Lab immensely. We tried the injected prednisone (which our vet said was off-prescription - as in not one of the recommended applications) when our border collie mix was getting really creaky and it helped briefly, but not for very long. So YMMV.

I'm glad Lacey is happy and not in as much pain, danf. And thanks for sharing Victoria's essay; she's a good writer.

Thanks for the update, Dan, and I'm glad Lacey is doing better.

Good to see Lacey is feeling better. I too enjoyed your wife's writing. Give the old pup a belly rub for me!

Aww. Precious. Thanks for sharing about your girls.

Very nice post. :)

On top of the prednisone Susurration mentioned (verrrrry helpful, but make sure you wait 72 hours between ANY dose of pred and ANY dose of carprofen), you can also get Tramadol for dogs to pile on top of other pain management meds. It doesn't help with inflammation, but it does assist in relieving the pain. Like many of the things we might give our pets, it's the exact same drug you get from a pharmacy, and a pharmacy will happily fill the prescription for a dog.

We get ours from Walgreens, who have a discount prescription program; you sign up for the program as a family ($45, maybe?) and they'll include prescriptions for pets. Meds are much cheaper with the discount--even cheaper per pill if you get 3 months's worth at a time. We get prednisone, Tramadol, Flagyl, all kinds of things for our senior dogs there. You can check with whatever pharmacies are near you to see if they have a similar program.

And if you're going to be giving a course of pred, you can keep giving Tramadol during that time and the three days before/after, while you can't keep giving carprofen.

It looks like the last time I got carprofen it was from http://petmedsnmore.com. Novox was the "brand" of carprofen that I bought.

If you're up for injections and a somewhat expensive drug, you can also look into Adequan. It's good stuff, and seems to help with serious joint issues, but it is expensive and hard to administer. Your vet should be able to teach you to give the injections, though, if you are interested.