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

Tumblr Tumblr (stylized as tumblr; pronounced "tumbler") is an American microblogging and social networking website founded by David Karp in 2007 and currently owned by Automattic. The service allows users to post multimedia and other content to a sho ...

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

Reddit Reddit (; stylized in all lowercase as reddit) is an American social news aggregation, content rating, and discussion website. Registered users (commonly referred to as "Redditors") submit content to the site such as links, text posts, images ...

. "Lil Bub" on

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

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

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by TriBeCa Productions, Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive progra ...

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

Background

Lil Bub was the

runt In a group of animals (usually a litter of animals born in multiple births), a runt is a member which is significantly smaller or weaker than the others. Owing to its small size, a runt in a litter faces obvious disadvantage, including difficulti ...

of her

litter Litter consists of waste products that have been discarded incorrectly, without consent, at an unsuitable location. Litter can also be used as a verb; to litter means to drop and leave objects, often man-made, such as aluminum cans, paper cups, ...

born to a

feral A feral () animal or plant is one that lives in the wild but is descended from domesticated individuals. As with an introduced species, the introduction of feral animals or plants to non-native regions may disrupt ecosystems and has, in some ...

mother. She was born with several

genetic mutations In biology, a mutation is an alteration in the nucleic acid sequence of the genome of an organism, virus, or extrachromosomal DNA. Viral genomes contain either DNA or RNA. Mutations result from errors during DNA or viral replication, mit ...

, 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 Osteopetrosis, literally "stone bone", also known as marble bone disease or Albers-Schönberg disease, is an extremely rare Biological inheritance, inherited disease, disorder whereby the bones harden, becoming Density, denser, in contrast to mor ...

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 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 bioRxiv (pronounced "bio-archive") is an open access preprint repository for the biological sciences co-founded by John Inglis and Richard Sever in November 2013. It is hosted by the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL). As preprints, papers h ...

. Bridavsky sold a variety of merchandise under the LIL BUB moniker and donated much of the profits to

animal rescue group An animal rescue group or animal rescue organization is a group dedicated to pet adoption. These groups take unwanted, abandoned, abused, or stray pets and attempt to find suitable homes for them. Many rescue groups are created by and run by vo ...

s. 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 Tardar Sauce (April 4, 2012 – May 14, 2019), nicknamed Grumpy Cat, was an American Internet celebrity cat. She was known for her permanently "grumpy" facial appearance, which was caused by an underbite and feline dwarfism. She came to promin ...

. ''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.

Meet and greets

Bridavsky arranged "

meet and greet Meet may refer to: People with the name * Janek Meet (born 1974), Estonian footballer * Meet Mukhi (born 2005), Indian child actor Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Meet'' (TV series), an early Australian television series which aired on ABC du ...

s" for both he and Lil Bub at

animal shelter An animal shelter or pound is a place where stray, lost, abandoned or surrendered animals – mostly dogs and cats – are housed. The word "pound" has its origins in the animal pounds of agricultural communities, where stray livestock would ...

s 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 Neutering, from the Latin ''neuter'' ('of neither sex'), is the removal of an animal's reproductive organ, either all of it or a considerably large part. The male-specific term is castration, while spaying is usually reserved for female animals. C ...

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 Metro (formerly the Stages Music Hall and Cabaret Metro) is a concert hall in Chicago, Illinois, United States, that plays host to a variety of local, regional and national emerging bands and musicians. The Metro was first opened in 1982. The ...

raised $1,800 for Tree House Humane Society. Lil Bub attended the Splashdown 2019 event at the USS Hornet (CV-12) on July 20, 2019.

Media appearances

Lil Bub appeared on ''

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. Th ...

'' in August 2012. She did a

photoshoot A photo shoot is the process taken by creatives and models that results in a visual objective being obtained. An example is a Model (person), model posing for a photographer at a studio or an outdoor location. A photo shoot is a series of images ...

with ''Bullett Magazine'' in October 2012. She was also featured in ''

Bloom Magazine ''Bloom Magazine'' is a bimonthly culture and lifestyle magazine published in Bloomington, Indiana Bloomington is a city in and the county seat of Monroe County in the central region of the U.S. state of Indiana. It is the seventh-largest ci ...

'' in the December 2012/January 2013 edition. She appeared on ''

Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * Day of the present, the time that is perceived directly, often called ''now'' * Current era, present * The current calendar date Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Today'' (1930 film), a 1930 A ...

'' and '' The View'' in April 2013. Lil Bub appeared in the

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

Big Live Comedy Show with

Jack McBrayer Jack McBrayer (; born May 27, 1973) is an American actor and comedian, who gained national exposure for his portrayal of characters on ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' and as Kenneth Parcell in ''30 Rock''. For his role in ''30 Rock'' he was no ...

and the cast of ''

Workaholics ''Workaholics'' is an American sitcom created and predominantly written by Blake Anderson, Adam DeVine, Anders Holm, and Kyle Newacheck, all of whom star in the series. ''Workaholics'' originally ran on Comedy Central from April 6, 2011, to Marc ...

''. She appeared on an episode of ''Meme'd'' on The Pet Collective. In September 2014, Lil Bub was interviewed by

David Yow David Yow (born August 2, 1960) is an American musician and actor born in Las Vegas, Nevada and best known as the vocalist for the noise rock bands Scratch Acid and the Jesus Lizard. Yow's debut solo album, '' Tonight You Look Like a Spider'', w ...

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 ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

''. 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 Mark Andrew Consuelos (; born March 30, 1971) is an American actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Mateo Santos on the ABC soap opera ''All My Children'' (1995–2001; 2010) and as Hiram Lodge on The CW drama '' Riverdale'' (2017–2021). ...

) 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 m ...

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 Andrew Richard Capper (born 14 February 1973) is a British US-based Film director, director, journalist and former editor and executive producer at ''Vice Media''. In 2018, he founded Happy Now Film. Career Capper's career in journalism started ...

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

. 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 Jane Rosenthal (born September 21, 1956) is an American film producer.

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 A web series (also known as a web show) is a series of scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet, which first emerged in the late 1990s and became more prominent in the early 2000s. A single i ...

with

Revision3 Revision3 was a San Francisco-based multi-channel television network that created, produced and distributed streaming television shows on niche topics. Founded in 2005, it operated as a subsidiary of Discovery Digital Networks since 2012. The ...

. 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 Animal Planet (stylized in all lowercase since 2018) is an American multinational pay television channel owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks unit of Warner Bros. Discovery. First established on June 1, 1996, the network is primarily dev ...

. 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 Caryn Elaine Johnson (born November 13, 1955), known professionally as Whoopi Goldberg (), is an American actor, comedian, author, and television personality.Kuchwara, Michael (AP Drama Writer)"Whoopi Goldberg: A One-Woman Character Parade". ' ...

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 Individual cats Female mammals Internet memes Animals on the Internet Internet memes about cats Individual animals in the United States Joyful Noise Recordings artists YouTube channels launched in 2011 Zoomusicology