Lil Bub, officially Lil BUB (June 21, 2011 – December 1, 2019), was an American celebrity cat known for her unique physical appearance. Her photos were first posted to

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in November 2011, before being taken off after being featured on the social news website

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. "Lil Bub" on

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has over three million likes. Lil Bub starred in '' Lil Bub & Friendz'', a documentary that premiered at the

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on April 18, 2013, and won the Tribeca Online Festival Best Feature Film.

Background

Lil Bub was the runt of her litter born to a feral mother. She was born with several genetic mutations, had to be bottle-fed, and had difficulty being adopted. Lil Bub had an extreme form of feline dwarfism that caused her limbs and lower jaw to be quite small in comparison to the rest of her body. The shortened lower jaw meant that, among other things, she could not retain her tongue within her mouth. Her owner, Mike Bridavsky, adopted her when his friends asked him to give her a home. When Bridavsky first picked her up, he said "Hey, Bub!" Lil Bub suffered from osteopetrosis for which she received medication. In late 2012, during the filming of ''Lil Bub & Friendz'', she had a serious health episode and was diagnosed with osteopetrosis by a specialist in

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

.''Lil Bub & Friendz'' Lil Bub's short legs and osteopetrosis restricted her movement but she was termed "a fantastic waddler." Vibrations from

travel Travel is the movement of people between distant geographical locations. Travel can be done by foot, bicycle, automobile, train, boat, bus, airplane, ship or other means, with or without luggage, and can be one way or round trip. Travel c ...

also break down the

osteoclasts An osteoclast () is a type of bone cell that breaks down bone tissue. This function is critical in the maintenance, repair, and remodeling of bones of the vertebral skeleton. The osteoclast disassembles and digests the composite of hydrated prote ...

. A group of individuals launched a campaign on the website

Experiment.com Experiment, formerly called Microryza, is a US website for crowdfunding science-based research projects. Researchers can post their research projects to solicit pledges. Experiment works on the all-or-nothing funding model. The backers are only cha ...

to sequence Lil Bub's

genome In the fields of molecular biology and genetics, a genome is all the genetic information of an organism. It consists of nucleotide sequences of DNA (or RNA in RNA viruses). The nuclear genome includes protein-coding genes and non-coding ge ...

. The purpose of this project was to better understand Lil Bub's unique appearance (for example, her extra digits). The campaign reached its funding goal on May 25, 2015. The scientists found Lil Bub had a mutation in gene RANK/TNFRSF11A which has also been found in one mouse and fifteen humans. Their research on Lil Bub is published at bioRxiv. Bridavsky sold a variety of merchandise under the LIL BUB moniker and donated much of the profits to animal rescue groups. Some of the money also helped Bridavsky pay off six months of back rent on his

recording studio A recording studio is a specialized facility for sound recording, mixing, and audio production of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home project studio large enoug ...

. Bridavsky has a policy to not "approach anybody for anything" and chose to not sign with talent agent Ben Lashes, whose clients have included Grumpy Cat. ''Lil Bub’s Lil Book: The Extraordinary Life of the Most Amazing Cat on the Planet'' was released September 3, 2013. In May 2021, Bridavsky released a visual history coffee table book, ''Lil BUB: The Earth Years'', with author

Aaron Tanner According to Abrahamic religions, Aaron ''′aharon'', ar, هارون, Hārūn, Greek (Septuagint): Ἀαρών; often called Aaron the priest ()., group="note" ( or ; ''’Ahărōn'') was a prophet, a high priest, and the elder brother of ...

Meet and greets

Bridavsky arranged " meet and greets" for both he and Lil Bub at animal shelters around the US. The shelters received donations and a cut of merchandise sales. Lil Bub posed for a

PETA Peta or PETA may refer to: Acronym * Pembela Tanah Air, a militia established by the occupying Japanese in Indonesia in 1943 * People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, an American animal rights organization * People Eating Tasty Animals, an ...

campaign that encourages people to spay and neuter their pets. Lil Bub met Grumpy Cat at the second annual Internet Cat Video Film Festival. Lil Bub had a

book signing Book signing is the affixing of a signature to the title page or flyleaf of a book by its author. Book signings are events, usually at a bookstore or library, where an author sits and signs books for a period. Book signing Book signing is popu ...

for her new book at Strand Books on September 5. A screening of ''Lil Bub & Friendz'' at Metro Chicago raised $1,800 for Tree House Humane Society. Lil Bub attended the Splashdown 2019 event at the

USS Hornet Eight ships of the United States Navy have been named USS ''Hornet'', after the stinging insect: * , a 10-gun sloop commissioned in 1775, served in the American Revolutionary War. * , also a 10-gun sloop, took part in the First Barbary War. * , ...

(CV-12) on July 20, 2019.

Media appearances

Lil Bub appeared on ''

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'' in August 2012. She did a photoshoot with ''Bullett Magazine'' in October 2012. She was also featured in '' Bloom Magazine'' in the December 2012/January 2013 edition. She appeared on '' Today'' and '' The View'' in April 2013. Lil Bub appeared in the

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Big Live Comedy Show with

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and the cast of '' Workaholics''. She appeared on an episode of ''Meme'd'' on The Pet Collective. In September 2014, Lil Bub was interviewed by David Yow of

The Jesus Lizard The Jesus Lizard is an American rock band formed in 1987 in Austin, Texas and based in Chicago, Illinois. They were "a leading noise rock band in the American independent underground… hoturned out a series of independent records filled with s ...

for ''

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''. Lil Bub makes an appearance in the film '' Nine Lives'' (2016) as the cat form of the film's main antagonist Ian Cox ( Mark Consuelos) after he is hit by a car and his soul goes inside the cat's body. Her final media appearance was in the 2018 movie ''

I'll Be Next Door for Christmas ''I'll Be Next Door for Christmas'' is a 2018 American comedy film directed by David Jay Willis and starring Nicole Sullivan, Atticus Shaffer, Jonathan Mangum, Beth Littleford, Regan Burns and Lil Bub in her final film role. The movie was release ...

''. She appeared as Parsley the Cat. An album was released under Lil Bub's name, with Bridavsky as producer, in 2015. The album, ''Science & Magic'', features liner notes by

Andrew W.K. Andrew Fetterly Wilkes-Krier (born May 9, 1979), known professionally as Andrew W.K., is an American conceptual performance artist, rock singer, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and actor. Raised in Michigan, Wilkes-Krier began his musi ...

and includes recordings of Lil Bub's vocalizations interpolated into instrumental electronic music tracks.

Appearance on Japanese TV

Lil Bub's life story was featured for 30 minutes during the three hour "Animal Special" episode of the Japanese TV show ''Experience a Miracle – Unbelievable''. In this dramatization the role of Mike Bridavsky was played by New Zealand actor Gregory Snelgar.

''Lil Bub & Friendz''

Lil Bub stars in '' Lil Bub & Friendz'', a documentary directed by Andy Capper and Juliette Eisner and premiered at the

on April 18, 2013. The film also stars

Keyboard Cat Keyboard Cat is a video-based internet meme. Its original form was a video made in 1984 by Charlie Schmidt of his cat Fatso seemingly playing a musical keyboard (though manipulated by Schmidt off-camera) to a cheery tune. While Schmidt had uplo ...

Nyan Cat Nyan Cat is a YouTube video uploaded in April 2011, which became an internet meme. The video merged a Japanese pop song with an animated cartoon cat with a Pop-Tarts, Pop-Tart for a torso flying through space and leaving a rainbow trail behind. T ...

and Grumpy Cat. Capper and Eisner decided to make a full-length film after meeting Lil Bub and seeing the turnout of 10,000 people at the 2012 Internet Cat Video Film Festival in

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

. ''Lil Bub & Friendz'' won the Tribeca Online Festival Best Feature Film. Lil Bub, Bridavsky, Capper and Eisner attended the Tribeca Drive-In outdoor screening at the World Financial Center Plaza on April 20. Lil Bub did a petting and photo session. Festival co-head

Robert De Niro Robert Anthony De Niro Jr. ( , ; born August 17, 1943) is an American actor. Known for his collaborations with Martin Scorsese, he is considered to be one of the best actors of his generation. De Niro is the recipient of various accolades ...

met Lil Bub at the Director's Brunch on April 23 after co-head Jane Rosenthal quipped to ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' "I keep saying Little Bub needs to meet Big Bob." On Lil Bub's second birthday, June 21, 2013, it was announced that she would star in ''Lil BUB's Big SHOW'' web series with Revision3. Bridavsky selected Rev3 for its connections to

Discovery Communications Discovery, Inc. was an American multinational mass media factual television conglomerate based in New York City. Established in 1985, the company operated a group of factual and lifestyle television brands, such as the namesake Discovery Chann ...

and Animal Planet. Bridavsky had full writing and

creative control Artistic control or creative control is a term commonly used in media production, such as movies, television, and music production. A person with artistic control has the authority to decide how the final product will appear. In movies, this c ...

. The talk show format was made possible by having a subtitled Lil Bub edited with footage of her guests recorded separately. Her first guest was Whoopi Goldberg who met her on '' The View'' in April 2013. The episode ended with Lil Bub introducing the audience to Tabby's Place, a cat sanctuary for disadvantaged felines. The episode aired September 3, 2013.

Death

Lil Bub died in her sleep on December 1, 2019. According to Bridavsky, Lil Bub had been fighting an aggressive bone infection at the time of her death.

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2011 animal births 2019 animal deaths Animals on the Internet Female mammals Individual cats in the United States Internet memes about cats Joyful Noise Recordings artists YouTube channels launched in 2011 Zoomusicology