Yvonne,
Thanks so much for your input. An X-ray at Davis is right around $1,000. We just can't do that. We've always been very focused on her hydration. She gets soaked every 4 days. The 2 of us lift her in and out of her pool. She also has a mud wallow fed by a landscape irrigation...
3 years ago Spike was diagnosed by our local vet with a " bladder stone" the size of a softball ( she was vomiting ). We then took her to UC Davis school of veterinary medicine. At that time it was a 3 hour drive each way for us. She had X-rays, CT scan, and had to be sedated for everything...