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Kabosu, a 17-year-old Shiba Inu whose meme-worthy photo became an internet sensation since 2013, has been diagnosed with chronic lymphoma leukaemia and acute cholangiohepatitis.
This is according to an Instagram post by her owner, Atsuko Sato, who is a kindergarten teacher based in Sakura, Japan.
According to Sato's earlier Instagram posts, Kabosu has been ill since Christmas Eve, being unable to drink water or eat.
The female dog has undergone blood tests, Sato confirmed, and was informed that her dog was in a “very dangerous condition”.
In an earlier blog post written on Dec. 21, Sato wrote that Kabosu was already moving slower and taking more time to do her daily activities.
Diagnosed with 2 medical conditions
In her most recent post dated Dec. 28, Sato confirmed that her dog has been diagnosed with the two medical conditions, and that the liver is bad with jaundice.
Despite this, Kabosu still has an appetite and can drink water.
Sato also thanked her followers for their concern and well-wishes.
Legacy of a meme dog
Kabosu first blew up online in 2013 for a photo taken in 2010, which depicts the dog posing with crossed paws and giving a questioning side-eye to the camera.
Image via Kabochan Blog
Thereafter, variations of Kabosu's photo were overlaid occasionally with grammatically incorrect English texts and truncated texts, such as "so scare", "what r u doing" and "concern" in Comic Sans font.
They were posts from a Tumblr blog named "Shiba Confessions".
Kabosu, as a meme, was later referred to "Doge", an intentional misspell of the word "Dog".
The Doge meme then grew in popularity on Reddit before spreading to other platforms.
The photo of Kabosu's quirky and quizzical expression has then become the source of even more memes, merchandise and even a cryptocurrency named "Dogecoin".
A non-fungible token (NFT) of the “Doge” meme was sold at a price of Us$4 million (S$5.39 million) in 2021, making it the most expensive meme NFT ever to be sold.
Screenshot via Google Search 'Doge Meme'
Sato has also posted about Kabosu’s fame on her blog in 2014, saying that she was amazed at how famous Kabosu had become.
She also said there were many English memes and even an article written about her dog that she did not understand, so she needed the help from a friend to translate them for her.
Best wishes for Kabosu
In one of her Instagram posts, Sato said although Kabosu's condition was not well and was more serious than expected, they can "get our power from all over the world!".
Her posts on Kabosu's health have garnered thousands of likes and comments within a few days.
However, some note that the dog was already reaching the end of a dog's life expectancy, while others expressed relief at the fact that Kabosu was still eating and drinking.
Kabosu celebrated her 17th birthday in October 2022, meaning that she is already around 84 years old in human years.
Top images via Kabochan blog & Instagram/@kabosumama