Tucker Budzyn, the Michigan-based golden retriever who amassed a significant online following, died on Wednesday at the age of 8. His owner, Courtney Budzyn, announced his passing Saturday, citing complications from lymphoma.
Less than a week prior, on August 30, Courtney Budzyn had publicly shared Tucker's cancer diagnosis, which she had learned from veterinarians two weeks earlier. Initially, Tucker had shown signs of remission after one week of treatment, with veterinarians estimating he could have lived for one to three more years. However, his condition unexpectedly deteriorated Wednesday morning.
"Tucker passed away Wednesday, unexpectedly," Courtney Budzyn stated in a tearful Instagram video. "He was doing really with treatment, but we didn’t know he had lymphoma in his intestines. Since the chemo was working so good and he was going into remission, it left a hole in his intestine where the cancer was, and he got an infection that seemed to hit him overnight."
She further explained that Tucker's temperature continued to rise at the veterinary clinic, and despite efforts, the complications became insurmountable. "We had to let him go," she said, expressing the profound loss she felt, comparing it to losing a part of herself.
Tucker built a substantial presence across multiple social media platforms, accumulating 27.1 million followers. His largest audiences were on TikTok, with 11.8 million followers, and YouTube, with 5.9 million. He also had significant followings on Facebook (4.9 million) and Instagram (4.4 million), along with a smaller presence on X.
Courtney Budzyn created Tucker's Instagram page in June 2018, shortly after adopting him as an 8-week-old puppy. He first gained viral attention for videos featuring him interacting with an ice cube and playing with a hair clip. As Tucker's popularity grew, both Courtney and her husband, Mike, left their respective careers as a house cleaner and civil engineer to manage the online content for Tucker and his son, Todd.
In a 2023 interview, Courtney Budzyn detailed the financial success of their social media endeavors, noting that YouTube paid posts could range from $40,000 to $60,000 for a 30-minute video, while Instagram posts could earn approximately $20,000 for three to eight stories.
Despite her grief, Courtney Budzyn expressed her intention to move forward and heal, stating, "I feel like I owe it to him to move forward and to heal."
During his final weeks, Tucker enjoyed various activities, including visits to the park, swimming, wrestling with his son Todd, and enjoying meals with his medication. Courtney Budzyn also took him for one last rollerblading session.