If you’ve been online at all over the past decade or so, you’ll probably have seen this dog.
updraftplus domain was triggered too early. This is usually an indicator for some code in the plugin or theme running too early. Translations should be loaded at the init action or later. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /home/aonyeani76/cryptocurrencypanther/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6131hustle domain was triggered too early. This is usually an indicator for some code in the plugin or theme running too early. Translations should be loaded at the init action or later. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /home/aonyeani76/cryptocurrencypanther/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6131wpforms-lite domain was triggered too early. This is usually an indicator for some code in the plugin or theme running too early. Translations should be loaded at the init action or later. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /home/aonyeani76/cryptocurrencypanther/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6131The photo became the basis of one of the most popular memes of the past decade, as internet users started adding their inner monologues, typically expressed through short phrases of broken English written in brightly colored Comic Sans font, to the picture. Even politicians and companies started using the meme — and the meme even spawned its own cryptocurrency.
But now, almost 13 years after the fateful photo that first catapulted her to global fame, the 17-year-old dog from Japan known for the “doge” meme is dangerously ill, her owner says.
Kabosu stopped eating and drinking on Christmas Eve, and had to be taken “to the hospital,” owner Atsuko Sato said on Instagram. The dog was then diagnosed with leukemia and cholangiohepatitis — an inflammatory disease of the liver and bile ducts — and began showing signs of jaundice, Sato added Tuesday in the latest of Instagram posts.
Doctors said “she is in a very dangerous condition,” Sato told Kabosu’s 407,000 Instagram followers.
“My mind became blank as I wasn’t expecting her condition to be so bad. But Kabo-chan has shown us many miracles so I am sure that this is not the end. I am sure she will show us a miracle once again,” she said, adding that Kabosu’s appetite appeared to be improving.
Sato, a kindergarten teacher who rescued the dog from an animal shelter in 2008, had posted the famous photo to her blog, where she also shares photos of her home life and cats, in February 2010. She told technology website the Verge in 2013 that she had had no idea of Kabosu’s newfound global fame and was “taken aback” when she found the memes online.
“It felt very strange to see her face there. It was a Kabosu that I didn’t know,” she said.
The meme — which became known as “doge” — has also featured other shiba inu dogs, but Kabosu was always indisputably the most famous one. The meme was featured in several lists of the top memes of the previous decade — and led to online debates about how to pronounce the name, explanations from linguists about the language used in the meme and even a reader’s response to The Washington Post. The “doge” meme was also featured in a safety video released by Delta Air Lines in 2015.
But Kabosu’s most famous legacy has come in the form of dogecoin, a cryptocurrency established in 2013 and supported by Elon Musk. While the currency began as a joke based on the meme, dogecoin has since become a key player in the cryptocurrency market, rising 10,000 percent in the first five months of 2021.
Musk’s backing has shaped dogecoin’s often volatile fortune, with the Tesla chief’s appearance on Saturday Night Live in 2021 leading to an abrupt loss of around 30 percent. However, the cryptocurrency jumped considerably after Musk’s Twitter takeover, and Tesla accepts dogecoin as a form of payment.
Meanwhile, Kabosu’s fans have taken to Instagram to wish her well. “This is the hardest part of owning a dog… We love you Doge. You defined an entire era and generation on the internet. Good luck!” wrote one well-wisher.
Hong Kong
CNN
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Kabosu, the internet-famous dog who inspired the “doge” meme and influenced digital culture for a decade, is seriously ill with leukemia and liver disease.
The 17-year-old shiba inu stopped “eating and drinking voluntarily” on Christmas Eve, and has been diagnosed with acute cholangiohepatitis and chronic lymphoma leukemia, according to a series of Instagram posts by her owner Atsuko Sato, a kindergarten teacher in Sakura, Japan.
While Sato said Kabosu’s appetite had returned, she had previously blogged that the dog was moving around less, and more slowly.
Kabosu became one of the most recognizable animals on the internet when a 2010 photo of her posing with folded paws and a quizzical expression spread across Reddit, Tumblr and 4Chan, overlaid with an imagined inner monologue in broken English using scattered Comic Sans text. Internet users soon began photoshopping Kabosu’s face onto pastries, landmarks and other animals. The meme was later co-opted by brands like Oreo and Stockholm’s subway.
The popularity of the “doge” meme was cemented in December 2013, when two programmers introduced an alternative cryptocurrency called Dogecoin as a tongue-in-cheek response to Bitcoin that reflected the internet’s love of animal memes. It reached a peak value of more than $400 in 2014, and is considered the first “meme coin” or satire of cryptocurrency.
Elon Musk is a fan, and Dogecoin sponsored England’s Watford Football Club, with Kabosu’s face appearing on the sleeves of the team’s jersey.
Kabosu’s legacy can also be seen in the popularity of other shiba inu-related memes that have gained popularity in the 2020s, including the North Atlantic Fellas Organisation, a pro-Ukrainian social media movement dedicated to mocking Russia’s war effort and countering disinformation.
After it raised funds for the Ukrainian military, the country’s Ministry of Defense tweeted its thanks with a photoshopped image of a shiba inu in fatigues.
In Sato’s most recent posts about Kabosu, she said the dog was “in a very dangerous condition” and appeared to be jaundiced, but was also taking antibiotics. But she also thanked Kabosu’s fans for their support, saying she is “getting power from all over the world!”