Update: 8/28/24, 12:23 p.m. ET —After asking fans to send prayers for her dog, Dibs, Kelsea Ballerini revealed that her pooch was diagnosed with cancer.
“The last few days we have discovered that dibby has inoperable cancer in his heart,” she wrote via her Instagram Story on Wednesday, August 28. “He’s not in pain, and luckily it hasn’t spread further.”
Ballerini said that Dibs will begin to take “‘big’ meds to make sure he can have as many comfortable and happy days (weeks, months 🙏) left as possible,” and praised her veterinarians for being “amazing.”
She continued: “My mom is here (he stans grandma), and chase is the greatest dog dad in the world. He is getting extra cuddles and kibbles from his little family.”
Ballerini noted that dealing with Dibs’ health has been a “complex and emotional time,” adding, “He’s been my baby and my steady for the last 9 years and very much alongside this whole journey with us all.”
Ballerini concluded her update by thanking her fans for their well-wishes. “He’s wagging his tail right now no doubt saying thank you too,” she said.
Original story:
Kelsea Ballerini is leaning on fans for support amid a tough time for her dog, Dibs.
“My sweet dibs needs big prayers and healing energy sent his way,” the country star, 30, wrote via her Instagram Story on Sunday, August 25, alongside a photo of her pet. “Send our boy some love.”
Ballerini did not share specifics of Dibs’ condition with her request for well-wishes.
Dibs, whom Ballerini adopted in 2015, has frequently appeared on her Instagram over the years. The singer included snaps of herself and her dog on a walk and Dibs playing in the pool in a Tuesday, August 20, Instagram slideshow, which she captioned, “Some 🐂 for your Tuesday.”
Dibs and Chase Stokes’ dog, Milo, appeared alongside Ballerini in a celebratory Instagram post last month. “Happy 4th of july!!!! makes me wanna hot dog reallll badddd,” Ballerini, who has been dating Stokes, 31, since 2023, captioned a pic of herself posing in a red bikini, cowboy hat and cowboy boots in front of a pool.
Ballerini also runs Dibs’ own Instagram account. “Fact: only 1 out of every 2 snow bunnies has hops. also fact: i’m a model,” she captioned pics of herself and Dibs playing in the snow on January 15, the last post shared on the account.
The Grammy winner adopted Dibs — who is named after her 2015 song of the same name — during the early days of her career. “I’ve grown up with dogs my whole life. When I started touring, it was my first time really being on my own. I was homesick sometimes, and I was like, ‘I really want a dog,’” she explained in a 2020 Pedigree commercial.
She continued: “Dibs came into my life when I got my first tour bus. I think dogs kind of make home wherever you are, and so, for me, he’s always made it feel like home. … The magic of a dog is just the fact that they’re by your side no matter what.”
One year prior, Ballerini revealed that it took a while for Dibs to warm up to her then-husband, Morgan Evans. “It took, like, two years for Dibs to be like, ‘Well, guess you’re sticking around.’ But now, they’re the best of friends,” she shared in a 2019 interview with the radio station Country 97/1 HANK FM. “If Morgan’s on the ground, Dibs will, like, sit on his lap. Like, he claims Morgan more than he claims me now, which I’m kind of upset about, to be honest. I wanted them to get along, but I still wanted to be his favorite. But I’m not anymore.”
The exes were married from 2017 to 2022. Ballerini included her dog’s name in the lyrics of her song “Penthouse,” which was featured on her post-divorce EP, Rolling Up the Welcome Mat.
“I bought the house with a fence/ Enough room for some kids, a backyard for Dibs,” she sings. “And I thought that would make it all better / And maybe forever wouldn’t feel like the walls closing in / ‘Cause how does that even make sense? / Now that I think about it, it never did.”
