The world-famous Shiba Inu, Kabosu, who inspired the viral ‘doge’ meme in 2010 has been diagnosed with leukemia and a liver illness.
Her owner, Atsuko Sato, disclosed that the 17-year-old suffers from chronic lymphocytic leukemia — a kind of blood and bone marrow cancer, as well as cholangiohepatitis — an inflammation of the bile ducts, gallbladder, and liver tissue.
She revealed on Instagram in a series of posts that Kabosu had stopped “eating and drinking voluntarily” on Christmas Eve. A subsequent trip to the hospital unveiled that she is in a “very dangerous condition”. Kabosu then presented low liver levels and jaundice.
She said,
Right now, the liver level is very bad and jaundice appears. Nevertheless, Kabosu has an appetite and is able to drink water
Atsuko Sato added that Kabosu’s health should improve with antibiotics.
Kabosu rose to prominence after her owner posted a photo of her looking politely inquisitive on her blog in 2010. The photo went viral on Reddit, Tumblr, and 4Chan, with users commenting in Comic Sans font on what the dog was thinking.
Despite Kabosu’s current health issue, Atsuko Sato had previously stated that her famous dog’s health has already been slowing down since gaining viral popularity.
According to CNN, the Shiba Inu won the Meme of the Year on Know Your Meme in 2013, and the founders of Dogecoin, Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer, had named Kabosu their mascot the same year, making it the first ‘meme coin’ in the cryptocurrency industry.
Dogecoin is still popular and regularly traded after nearly a decade and an NFT of the viral meme sold for $4 million at auction in 2021.
