The photo is ok. I don't know what it is either, but it's in poor shape, sorry to say!

The cactus is suffering a pot too large, probably with no drainage hole, the soil should not be packed up around the base, and it's bad soil. You might think sand is appropriate for cactus, and maybe in the desert, but not in pots! It desperately needs a repot.

As greenclaws recommended above, do some reading here about the proper soil, or at the least, go get a pot about half that size or smaller with a drainage hole (plastic is ok but clay is better). Mix cactus & succulent soil 50/50 with perlite (rinsed and strained to get out the smallest particles) and repot after cleaning the old soil off the roots. Don't water for a week or more, then water well only when dry. Transition slowly into full sunlight.

Unless it's roots are rotten, you can save this plant! Repot and come back and show us.

There is a drainage hole in it. How was it suffering? Am I missing something by the appearance? Is that why it's not very circular? Funny thing is that this has been in this pot according to someone who potted this for at least a year. And it just had Bloom this summer. I will definitely repot it eventually, but how is it doing poorly if it's growing a baby? I am a newbie so if you could explain I would appreciate it thank you :-)

Good you came back. All that mixture whatever it is needs to be got rid of, From the base of it and from the roots. The pot does look too large just as I suspected, cacti generally have small root systems.

Barrel cactus is just a generic name, it gives no clue as to what it is.

Seems like the gifter probably did know how to grow trees, but has a few things to learn when it comes to cacti :-)

If there's no rot when you unpot it and clean off all that rubbishy mixture, it should be fine in the mix that socks has recommended. If there is, take pics and show us for further advise before repotting.

It should be potted so that the bottom of its green part is level with the soil or ever so slightly higher, then you can top dress the soil mix with small grade gravel if you wish. That would stabilise the plant, make it look good and stop basal rot if the mix does stay wet....which it shouldn't! You can also mix gravel in equal amounts with the c/s mix and the perlite for a gritty potting mix, aquarium gravel, chicken gravel or horticultural/alpine gravel can all be used....but never, ever, use sand it's way too fine. If in doubt about anything come back.

Gill

Thank you so much :-) I will do that and repost it in the next few weeks. I was on another site, and someone said they thought that my plant was a hybrid. Possibly a trichocereus. Any advice what to do with the pup? Should I take it off when I replanted? I can see white roots off the side of it?

It's Echinopsis, but I can't say which one exactly ...