Legendary meme dog dies in Hong Kong

The owner hopes Cheems will continue to bring joy online after completing his earthly mission

The pup, whose real name is Balltze or Ball Ball, famous for his mischievous look that sparked many viral memes, was diagnosed with leukemia in December 2022 and had been undergoing treatment ever since, but succumbed to his last thoracentesis surgery on Friday.

The owner took to social media to announce the sad news saying that the dog has “completed  his mission” and to encourage fans to 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,” the owner wrote, adding that pup will always be “inside his heart.”

While not as iconic as another Shiba Inu from the original Doge meme, Balltze was immortalized by multiple popular memes including ‘Swole doge vs Cheems’ after one of his photographs vent viral in 2019.

An array of Cheems’ fans wept his sudden death over the internet, with one user coming up with a heart-touching meme showing the pup sitting on the cloud ladder in heaven donning angel wings and a halo.

Cheems