RecipeTin Eats' Dozer is critically ill. Nagi won't leave his side.

Millions of Australians love RecipeTin Eats. The founder, Nagi Maehashi's recipes punctuate all of our biggest moments: Christmas, birthdays and celebratory lunches. 

But beside her while she carefully crafts and painstakingly repeats her recipes is her right-hand-man and official taste tester, her golden retriever Dozer. 

At the bottom of her recipes she includes sweet anecdotes about the smiling fluff-ball, and over the years, he's become just as much the face of the brand as Nagi herself. 

Unfortunately, this week Nagi released an emotional blog post updating her audience that Dozer has been critically ill and in hospital, with a double lung infection. 

She shared that Dozer is in his 'final chapter' of life. 

Dozer is the official taste tester of RecipeTin Eats. Image: Instagram/@recipe_tin

"I've cried a thousand tears and there's a million more to come," she said in the post. 

Dozer, who is almost 14, was admitted to Sydney's Small Animal Specialist Hospital (SASH) almost a fortnight ago with pneumonia in both lungs.

While the infection itself may not have been life-threatening for a younger dog, Maehashi explained that Dozer's age and existing medical conditions — including laryngeal paralysis — made his prognosis far more serious.

Still, Dozer has toughed it out. 

Dozer and Nagi have become the faces of the brand. Image: Instagram/@recipe_tin

Twice he was discharged from hospital, with his lungs showing signs of healing and his vitals stabilised, only to be re-admitted when complications set in.

After multiple readmissions in the space of a single day, Maehashi said she was forced to confront the reality she had been trying to outrun.

"We're in the final chapter of Life of Dozer and we all know how the story will end," she wrote.

For now, Nagi's hope is time. 

She has been by his side at SASH hosptial. Image: Instagram/@recipe_tin

Time for Dozer to come home, if possible, and do the things he loves most.

Spending time with his people. Scavenging around the table. Seeing his beach friends. And staying by her side, 24/7.

"All the neck rubs in the world. All the hugs, all the kisses, all the pats," she explained.

For long-time RecipeTin Eats readers, Dozer is far more than a background detail.

He is woven into the fabric of the site itself — the "official taste tester", the silent witness to recipe testing chaos, the golden retriever who lounged beneath kitchen benches and popped up unexpectedly in cookbooks, blog posts and Instagram stories.

Fans have followed Dozer's life, his beach days, his scavenging habits, his expressive eyes, forming a rare connection and deeply parasocial bond. 

The outpouring of love beneath Maehashi's post, now numbering in the thousands, reads less like comments and more like a collective vigil.

The Instagram bio of the official RecipeTin Eats account literally reads, 'Nagi & Dozer'. Image: Instagram/@recipe_tin

As she stays by his side in ICU, Maehashi has announced she is stepping back from RecipeTin Eats. During her absence, head chef Jean-Baptiste Alexandre will take over operations.

Maehashi thanked her audience for the role they've played in Dozer's life — and hers.

"Thank you for all the years of love you've shown Dozer, for sharing your own fur baby stories, and for making him feel so deeply adored far beyond our little world," she wrote.

"I hope to be able to share some more light-hearted Life of Dozer tales for the next little while."

Dozer — we're all thinking of you. 

Dozer is in the fan's thoughts. Image: Instagram/@recipe_tin

Featured image: Instagram/@recipe_tin