Buddy
Help Buddy get Osteoarthritis — San Diego, CA
San Diego, CA
Buddy is three years old, fifty-seven pounds, and a Pit Bull — which means people decide things about him before they've met him. Here's what's actually true about him. He's been to Dog Beach and run around off leash like any other dog having the best day of his week. He works hard at the things he finds difficult, and there are a few — other dogs, and being alone. He's never been a simple dog. He has been, every single time I asked something of him, a willing one. I'm a certified dog trainer. I raised and trained my service dog Xena from a puppy, and I make my living working with other people's dogs. That sounds like it should make this easier. Mostly it makes it worse, because I know exactly what I'm looking at, and I can't hand my own dog to someone with more distance from him. For the last while I've been working on Buddy's reactivity and his trouble being left alone. Reading him. Adjusting. Trying to figure out why some days landed and some didn't. In August I found out I'd been reading the wrong thing. X-rays taken on August 21 went to a board-certified veterinary radiologist. The diagnosis came back as severe arthritis in both elbows, caused by elbow dysplasia — a condition he was born with. At three years old he has the joints of a much older dog. One elbow barely bends. He has been in pain since he was a puppy. He never told me. Dogs don't. He stood a little wide and moved a little stiff and I thought that was just how he was made. I've thought about that every day since. How much of what I read as difficulty was a dog who hurt, and showed up anyway. The urgent part is his left elbow. The radiologist found swelling and a 1.2-centimeter area where the bone has been eaten away, and concluded that a joint infection — septic arthritis — cannot be ruled out. There's one test that answers it: a joint tap, drawing fluid from the elbow for cytology and culture. Until that's done, we're guessing. An untreated joint infection doesn't stay in the joint. It destroys it, or it spreads. If it's an infection, it's treatable. If it's arthritis alone, he can be comfortable for years with proper pain management — which he is not yet receiving. I've spent my career telling people that behavior is communication. Buddy was communicating. I just didn't have the X-rays yet. He's three. He has a whole life ahead of him. Every dollar goes directly to his veterinarian. Thank you for reading about my dog. The medical situation Diagnosis. On August 21, 2026, Buddy had radiographs taken of both front legs after presenting with lameness and an elbow that would barely flex. The images were reviewed by a board-certified veterinary radiologist — Michael Roy, DVM, MS, Diplomate ACVR, of IDEXX Telemedicine Consultants — who completed his report on August 24, 2026. His findings: severe bilateral elbow osteoarthritis secondary to elbow dysplasia. Both elbows show severe degenerative change, with blunted medial coronoid processes and significant subchondral bone sclerosis. In the left elbow he found more soft tissue swelling than the right, plus a 1.2 cm region of geographic osteolysis — an area of bone loss — in the proximal ulna. His conclusion was that secondary septic arthritis, or joint-associated neoplasia, in the left elbow cannot be ruled out. Treatment needed. The radiologist's recommendations are: Arthrocentesis of the left elbow with cytology and culture — a joint tap to determine whether there is an infection. This is the immediate need and what this campaign is raising for. Consultation with an orthopedic surgeon, particularly if he doesn't respond to conservative therapy. Pain management. The report lists his current treatment plan as "none." He is not yet receiving anything for the pain. Prognosis. Good. Buddy is three years old and otherwise healthy. Septic arthritis, if that's what this is, is treatable — but an untreated joint infection can destroy the joint or become systemic. If it proves to be arthritis alone, he can be managed comfortably for years with pain control and activity modification. The joint tap is what tells us which path we're on. Clinic providing care. Snug Pet Resort & Animal Hospital Nothing has been paid or charged. Why this matters to us Buddy carries my fiancé Carl's last name. That's not a formality — it's what happened when a dog became part of a family instead of a pet in a house. He's Buddy Barfield on every vet form, and we mean it. There are four of us. Me, Carl, Xena — my Belgian Malinois–shepherd mix, who I raised and trained from a puppy — and Buddy. I train dogs for a living and I walk dogs during the day, and I've built that work around my own two: no overnights, no pet sitting, home mornings and midday until Carl gets in. My whole schedule is shaped by these dogs. That's not a complaint. It's the arrangement I chose. What makes Buddy matter to me specifically is that he's the one who's had to work hardest. Xena came easily. Buddy hasn't. Every good day with him has been earned — by him, mostly. He tries harder than any dog I've handled, and until August I didn't know he was doing it on joints that hurt. That's the part I can't sit with. He gave me everything he had while something was wrong, and he had no way to say so. He's three. If this is an infection, we catch it now and he gets his life. If it's the arthritis alone, we get him out of pain and he gets his life anyway. Either way the answer starts with one test we can't currently afford. That's what we're asking for. Not a miracle — a diagnosis. Why I'm asking for help I work with dogs for a living. I'm a certified dog trainer and I run a small dog walking service here in San Diego — daytime walks only, because my own two dogs need me mornings and midday. It's honest work and I'm good at it. It is not work that leaves a cushion for a specialist bill arriving with no warning. Buddy's diagnosis came out of nowhere on August 24. I took him in for a limp. What came back was a board-certified radiologist telling me both his elbows have been failing since before I knew him, and that the left one might be infected. I've done what I know how to do. I've applied to the veterinary assistance funds I could find and I'm still working through them — some don't cover diagnostics, some have months-long waitlists, some cap out well below what this costs. One commitment I was counting on didn't come through. Meanwhile Buddy is three years old, in pain, and we still don't know what's in that joint. I'm not asking anyone to fix my situation. I'm asking for help with one specific thing: the joint tap that tells us whether my dog has an infection eating his elbow. It's a single procedure. It's the difference between treating him and guessing at him. Every dollar goes directly to his veterinarian — Waggle pays the clinic, not me. If we raise more than the procedure costs, it goes toward the pain management he should already be on. I've spent years helping other people's dogs. This is the first time I've had to ask anyone to help mine.
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$1,500To go
