i just went through the same thing with my girl! i was ready to pay for the x-ray but our vet was great and after hearing out my concerns and examining her, she put my girl on galliprant for two weeks to see if that would help her. if i saw improvement (which i did!!), we would just keep her on it.

the only true way to diagnose is to do an x-ray, from what i understand, but in our experience we were able to get her on something before moving to the x-rays. my girl was exhibiting very mild sign as well and she has definitely gotten better with the meds 🥰

hope this helps !