Kabosu, Famous Doge Meme Dog, Died at Age 18

Kabosu, internationally famous as the “Doge” meme dog, died. She was eighteen years old at the time of death. [Thanks, Dexterto, Yahoo!]

Atsuko Satou, the “mother” and owner of Kabosu, shared this news on her blog. She thanked Kabosu for being with her for so long and stated that Kabosu’s death was a peaceful affair. Satou wrote that she was petting Kabosu when she faded away as if in sleep. Kabosu was a rescue that Satou adopted in 2008. She then created a blog focusing on her life with Kabosu, even receiving book deals and releasing calendars of the dog. In 2010, she uploaded a picture of Kabosu side-eyeing the camera. This photo of Kabosu exploded in popularity on sites like Reddit and 4chan, and the rest was history for Doge.

In December 2022, Satou stated that the veterinarians diagnosed Kabosu with leukemia. However, Satou said that she was getting better afterwards. While English speakers recognize Kabosu due to the Doge meme, Satou and Kabosu’s popularity in their native Japan seemed to be on Satou’s blog and Kabosu’s cuteness.

This could be due to the template of the Doge meme. The broken English (such as in “Much noble, so respect”) doesn’t work when translated into Japanese. Without the captions, a picture of Kabosu’s side-eyeing face, while cute, may not have the viral quality of the various cats that appear in the cat meme videos (which became popular in February 2024).

Kabosu, best known for being the Doge dog in memes, died at the age of 18.