Garfield Dog Semen Comic Strip

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. It was mentioned on Fark 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 that gained over 2,600 points and on Imgur by user HoosegowFlask for which it gained 3,400 points. It was brought up again on Twitter on January 22nd, 2015 by @ccchauffe and gained over 3,000 retweets (shown below). This led to another Reddit thread, this time on /r/comics, which gained over 1,500 points. On July 4th, 2017, it was mentioned on /r/comedycemetery and gained over 2,200 points.

On October 16th, 2017, Twitter user @realnutsling 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 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.

Search Interest

Know Your Meme Store

External References