People are posting their best Cheems memes after the dog who inspired it sadly died

Balltze, the dog who inspired the viral Cheems memes, has died following a battle with cancer.

The Shiba Inu, also known as Ball Ball, died on Friday after falling asleep during a thoracentesis surgery and never waking up.

Cheems first became an internet sensation in 2019 because of his love of cheeseburgers.

According to KnowYourMeme, 'memes featuring Cheems are usually based upon the character humorously misspelling various words, particularly by including extra M letters'.

His owner Cathy announced the sad news to the dog's nearly 800,000 followers on Instagram.

"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," she wrote.

She 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."

Now people are posting their best Cheems memes in tribute.

Kathy shared last year that Ball Ball had been diagnosed with pancreatitis after throwing up and having diarrhoea.

"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," she wrote in her post over the weekend.

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

I'm not crying, you're crying.