The verdict...

so we had our big appointment! it wasn't great news but it wasn't as bad as i was dreading. i mean, you can't expect the best from an eight year old pug from the shelter.
she has really had arthritis, and her knee caps are a 4 (on a scale of 0 to 4). dr. paula said her knee caps are popped out and can't be popped back in. a combination of her age and bad confirmation. she is about 75% blind because of pigmentation (phyllis has the same thing, her eye site is at about 80% though) and she has a bad ear infection so we don't know if she is deaf or her ears are just full of puss and gunk. it was so sick when they were cleaning her ears. it looked like they were pulling out spiders! poor girl, we had no idea. she hadn't been shaking her head or messing with them.
BUT the vet said she doesn't need to lose weight. just not gain any.
needless to say, the vet appointment was a bit more expensive than we were expecting. and we have to go back in two weeks to be sure her ear drum is intact.

but we love her already. she is just sweet as pie and doesn't act like any of it hurts her or slows her down. i'm pretty surprised about the blind thing.

phyllis loves her too. it already feels like she has lived with us forever.