‘Doge’ meme dog Cheems dies while in surgery

The canine had hundreds of thousands of followers on Instagram

The hilarious Shiba Inu found internet stardom back in 2017, thanks to his adorable looks and apparent love of cheeseburgers, often spelled 'cheemsburgers' in memes.

Following the rise of 17-year-old Shiba Inu Kabosu, the first viral 'Doge' dog who became the face of Dogecoin, Cheems went on to rack up some 772,000 followers on Instagram and would get thousands of likes on posts.

Sadly though, the 12-year-old passed away on Friday morning after undergoing surgery.

In a heartbreaking statement on Instagram, his owner confirmed the canine's sudden passing.

During the lengthy post about the beloved pooch, who was also known as Ball Ball, his loved one revealed that he had multiple surgeries in the six months leading up to his death.

They wrote: “Ball Ball fell asleep on 18/8…..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."

The statement continued: "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.

“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 owner went on to thank the medical teams involved in Balltze's treatment, and thanked everyone who had made memes about the dog and helped him achieve the stardom he did.

The Instagram statement continued: “All of you have been very generous and helpful, and I’m truly grateful to all of you, your love and support to Ball Ball 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.

“Thank you everyone, thank you, Balltze knows how much he was loved by all of you.”

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