Best-selling Australian home cook Nagi Maehashi is stepping back from her work while she deals with the likelihood of losing her “chief taste tester”.

Maehashi, founder of the wildly popular RecipeTin Eats website and cookbooks, said the big love of her life, her pet dog Dozer, was dying.

The 14-year-old golden retriever is in intensive care at a specialist vet’s in Sydney with a lung infection that has since spread to both lungs.

The illness was on top of an existing condition he had been diagnosed with affecting his ability to breathe.

Maehashi has been by Dozer’s side in hospital and was hoping he could pull through. But she acknowledged that, given his age, it may be their last days together.

In an update on Instagram this week, Maehashi said she had “cried a thousand tears and there’s a million more to come”.

“My sweet boy has been fighting hard,” she told fans, sharing photos of Dozer with his toys and fluffy bed in hospital, with tubes in his nose.

“But the gut-wrenching truth is that we are in the final chapter of Life of Dozer.

“His story only has one ending. But my greatest hope is that before we get to the final page he can spend some time at home.

“For the next little while I will be taking time away from work.”

Nagi Maehashi wants to spent as much time as she can with Dozer. Photo: Instagram

RecipeTin Eats head chef Jean-Baptiste Alexandre would share recipes in Maehashi’s absence, and her brother Goh would take charge of business.

“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. See you on the other side,” she said.

Maeshashi said Dozer was getting the “best possible care” at North Ryde’s Small Animal Specialist Hospital.

“I can’t speak highly enough of the women and men who work here, everyone from the vets to the nurses to the surgeons to reception.

“Whatever happens, I will be forever grateful.”

Dozer has been the chief taste tester in Nagi’s kitchen. Photo: RecipeTin Eats

Dozer features on the cover of both of Maehashi’s best-selling cookbooks, Tonight and Dinner, as well as in her recipe photos and videos on her website.

In the foreword to Tonight, Maehashi revealed that when Dozer was 12 he was diagnosed with bilateral laryngeal paralysis, which was a nerve deterioration problem paralysing both larynxes, affecting his ability to breathe.

Dozer had surgery but would never be the same boisterous and energetic dog.

Dozer came into Nagi’s life as a puppy and has been the “official taste tester and hoover” in the RecipeTin Eats kitchen.

“He’s excellent at hoovering all the crumbs, but he’s useless at taste testing because according to him, everything is scoff-worthy,” she writes on her website.

“From broccoli to mango, peas to sushi, he inhales sweet potato skins and devours watermelon rinds like they’re meaty bones.

“Every food photo you see on this website, just know that he’s just out of the shot. Under the table, next to the table, lying at my feet as I shoot videos and photos.

“Eyes gleaming at the sight of a golden Roast Chicken. Salivating at the smell of Beef Stroganoff. Mesmerised as maple syrup is poured over a towering stack of pancakes.”

Dozer has been in Nagi’s life since he was a puppy. Photo: RecipeTin Eats