What happened to Cheems the meme dog? Tributes pour in as beloved animal passes away

Cheems, the famous dog behind viral doge memes and doge coin, has passed away on Friday, August 18, 2023, at the age of 12. The news of his demise was shared by his owner on social media. In the post, it was mentioned that the iconic meme dog was suffering from cancer and died during his last thoracentesis surgery.

The social media post shared by the dog's owner read:

"He fell asleep on Friday morning during his last thoracentesis surgery. Originally, we wanted to arrange chemotherapy or other possible treatment for him after this operation, but it is too late now. "

It was further mentioned in the post that this adorable dog made many people laugh and brought happiness.

"Don’t be sad, please remember the joy that Balltze brought to the world. 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 completed."

For those unaware, this dog's name is Pup Balltze or Ball Ball, and he shot to fame in 2010 when a funny picture of him went viral. Years later, in 2017, the awkward pictures of the dog taken by his owner started circulating on the internet, which became fodder for the online community to have a good laugh.

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Social media users were devastated after coming across the tragic news of Cheems' passing away

As internet users came across the heartbreaking news about the demise of viral meme dog, they expressed their grief on the same. Several people came forward and shared emotional doge memes and said that they cannot believe that the dog behind viral meme is no more.

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Cheems is the popular doge character seen in the viral meme posts

According to Know Your Meme, this dog is part of a series on dogelore. He was known as the iconic doge character. He got this name because a picture circulated on the internet where Ball Ball was seen with cheeseburger, and the owner wrote it as cheemsburger.

After this, the emergence of dog language came in, where people mispronounced the name of the things by writing boy as 'boi,' cheese as 'cheems,' and majorly by adding extra 'm' to letters. For example, writing chicken as 'chimken,' among other things.

Ball Ball shot to fame in September 2017 when a picture of a Shiba Inu was shared by the Instagram user @balltze. His image of the dog's head gained popularity as it became a central element in doge memes.

The first recorded instance of "Cheemsburbger" being used can be traced back to June 8, 2019, when Redditor Spicy_Meme_Boi shared a four-panel meme on the /r/dogelore subreddit. This meme showcased the iconic smiling doge character accompanied by the caption "Cheemsburbger."