Popular meme dog Cheems Balltze passes away, Internet mourns loss of its favourite canine

Cheems Balltze, the Shiba Inu dog that went viral years ago for 'doge' memes, passed away on Saturday morning. The netizens’ favourite canine was undergoing treatment for cancer for many years.

3 things you need to know:

• Cheems was 12 years old.
• Cheems had surgery a few days before its demise
• The viral meme dog hit the peak of its popularity during the early 2010s.

Hope he can continue to bring joy to everyone: Cheems’ owners

Cheems’ owners shared an elaborate note on Instagram earlier today, informing about the dog’s passing away on Friday, August 18. Cheems ‘fell asleep’ during his last thoracentesis surgery. The owners stated that they wanted to arrange chemotherapy or other possible treatment after the operation, but Cheems passed away before they could act upon it.

Cheems’ owners also took to remind the dog’s fans not to be sad, considering the joy their favourite dog brought to them and everyone around them. The owners also thanked all of the followers for their “love and support to Ball Ball that is so unconditional and I found that is the purest love in the world, having Ball Ball in my life is the best thing ever happened."

They added in the note, “A Shiba Inu with a round smiling face connecting you and me, he has helped many people during the pandemic and brought a lot of joy to many of you, but now his mission has been completed. I believe he is running freely in the sky and having a lot of delicious food with his new friends. He will always be inside my heart. I hope he can continue to bring joy to everyone in the online world, that’s my only humble request.”  The owners also informed Balltze’s followers that all the donations and brass pin money collected for Cheems’ surgery would now be donated to local animal charities. 

Cheems had over 7 lakh Instagram followers

Popularly known as Pup Balltze, The dog hit the peak of its popularity in the mid-2010s. It was around the same time that the dog’s funny photo went viral. In years to come, netizens began using the said viral photo to express their discomfort or weakness in social situations. At the time of its demise, Balltze had over 7 lakh followers on Instagram.