Garfield Dog Semen Comic Strip

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About

Garfield Dog Semen Comic Strip refers to a strip of popular syndicated cartoon Garfield in which it appears that the punchline is that Jon Arbuckle has mistakenly drank from a cup of dog semen. Rumors about the intention behind the comic were discussed for over a decade online before creator Jim Davis clarified the joke behind the comic strip in 2017.

Origin

On May 30th, 1990, Garfield ran a comic strip in which Jon Arbuckle takes a drink from a glass, thinking it's coffee. Garfield's veterinarian then tells Arbuckle that he will give birth to a "fine, healthy litter of puppies" (shown below).

Spread

The earliest known mention of the comic's existence appeared on January 3rd, 2006 on the Straight Dope Message Board.^[1] It was mentioned on Fark^[2] two days later. Several years later, the comic began gaining notoriety on Reddit. On May 4th, 2014, it was mentioned in a thread on /r/funny^[4] that gained over 2,600 points and on Imgur^[10] by user HoosegowFlask for which it gained 3,400 points. It was brought up again on Twitter on January 22nd, 2015 by @ccchauffe^[5] and gained over 3,000 retweets (shown below). This led to another Reddit thread,^[6] this time on /r/comics, which gained over 1,500 points. On July 4th, 2017, it was mentioned on /r/comedycemetery^[7] and gained over 2,200 points.

On October 16th, 2017, Twitter user @realnutsling^[8] posted photos announcing he had received a framed version the comic strip, gaining over 4,100 retweets and 13,000 likes (shown below).

This brought the internet's attention back to the comic, leading Buzzfeed^[9] to reach out to Jim Davis for clarification on the comic. On October 19th, 2017, Buzzfeed reported:

"On the farm, we used to give first-calf heifers a high protein supplement to help them deliver healthier calves," (Davis) said in a statement to BuzzFeed News. "The supplement was provided by our vet."
Since Liz is a vet, "I assumed that there would be a similar supplement for dogs," Davis said.
"So Jon is drinking a protein-enriched drink formulated for a pregnant dog."
That's why Liz mentions the "healthy" litter Jon would have -- because he had just drunk a supplement for pregnant dogs, not dog semen.
"There you have it!" Davis said.