Lil Bub, officially Lil BUB (June 21, 2011 – December 1, 2019), was an American celebrity

cat The cat (''Felis catus''), also referred to as the domestic cat or house cat, is a small domesticated carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species of the family Felidae. Advances in archaeology and genetics have shown that the ...

known for her unique physical appearance. Her photos were first posted to

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

Reddit Reddit ( ) is an American Proprietary software, proprietary social news news aggregator, aggregation and Internet forum, forum Social media, social media platform. Registered users (commonly referred to as "redditors") submit content to the ...

. "Lil Bub" on

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

has over three million likes. Lil Bub starred in '' Lil Bub & Friendz'', a

documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

that premiered at the

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

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 disadvantage, including difficulties in c ...

of her

litter Litter consists of waste products that have been discarded incorrectly, without consent, at an unsuitable location. The waste is objects, often man-made, such as aluminum cans, paper cups, food wrappers, cardboard boxes or plastic bottles, but ...

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 som ...

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, mitosi ...

, 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. She also had extra toes. 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 , also known as marble bone disease or Albers-Schönberg disease, is an extremely rare inherited disorder whereby the bones harden, becoming denser, in contrast to more prevalent conditions like osteoporosis, in which ...

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 List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, 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 Location (geography), locations. Travel can be done by Pedestrian, foot, bicycle, automobile, train, boat, bus, airplane, ship or other means, with or without Baggage, luggage, a ...

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 ...

. 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 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 genes, other functional regions of the genome such as ...

. 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 was hosted by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) until March 11, 2025, whe ...

. 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 abandoned, abused, or feral, stray pets and attempt to find suitable homes for them. Many rescue groups are created by and run by Volunt ...

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 and reproduction, recording and Audio mixing, mixing of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home proje ...

. 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 promi ...

. ''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 Australian television series * '' Meet: Badlegi Duniya ...

s" for both him 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 the agricultural communities, where stray livestock w ...

s around the US. The shelters received donations and a cut of merchandise sales. Lil Bub met Grumpy Cat at the second annual

Internet Cat Video Film Festival The ''Internet Cat Video Festival'' was a national competition that celebrates cat videos on the internet. Many of these festivals include appearances by special guests and celebricats (such as Grumpy Cat and the creator of Nyan Cat), live music, ...

. 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. Th ...

raised $1,800 for Tree House Humane Society.

Media appearances

Lil Bub appeared on ''

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'', often abbreviated as ''GMA'', is an American breakfast television, morning television program that is broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends wit ...

'' in August 2012. She did a photoshoot with ''Bullett Magazine'' in October 2012. In October 2012 Lil Bub and Mike Brivadsky were interviewed by a group of kids on

WTIU WTIU (channel 30) is a PBS member television station in Bloomington, Indiana, United States. It is owned by Indiana University alongside NPR member WFIU (103.7 FM). The two stations share studios on the Indiana University campus on East 7th ...

's local children's program The Friday Zone, airing on Indiana's PBS stations. In the "A Moment with Lil Bub" series created for The Friday Zone, Lil Bub speaks for the first and only time in any media. She was also featured in '' Bloom Magazine'' in the December 2012/January 2013 edition. Lil Bub posed for a

PETA People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA; ) is an American animal rights nonprofit organization based in Norfolk, Virginia, and led by Ingrid Newkirk, its international president. Founded in March 1980 by Newkirk and animal right ...

campaign that encouraged people to spay and neuter their pets in 2013. She appeared on ''

Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * The current day and calendar date ** Today is between and , subject to the local time zone * Now, the time that is perceived directly, present * The current, present era Arts, entertainment and m ...

'' and ''

The View ''The View'' is an American talk show created by broadcast journalist Barbara Walters. , in its 28th season, the show has aired on American Broadcasting Company, ABC as part of the network's ABC Daytime, daytime programming block since August ...

'' in April 2013. Lil Bub appeared in the

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

''Big Live Comedy Show'' with

Jack McBrayer Jack McBrayer (; born May 27, 1973) is an American actor and comedian. He 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'', McBraye ...

and the cast of ''

Workaholics ''Workaholics'' is an American adult television sitcom created and predominantly written by Blake Anderson, Adam DeVine, Anders Holm, and Kyle Newacheck, all of whom star in the series. ''Workaholics'' initially aired on Comedy Central from ...

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

David Yow David Lambeth Yow (; born August 2, 1960) is an American musician and actor born in Las Vegas Valley, 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 ...

The Jesus Lizard The Jesus Lizard is an American Rock music, rock band formed in 1987 in Austin, Texas by vocalist David Yow, guitarist Duane Denison and bassist David Wm. Sims. They relocated to Chicago, Illinois, in 1989, where they found kindred spirits in ...

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 Mark Andrew Consuelos (; born March 30, 1971) is an American actor and talk show host. He rose to prominence as a television actor on the ABC soap opera ''All My Children'' for his portrayal of Mateo Santos (1995–2002, 2010), and subsequently ...

) 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''. 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. and includes recordings of Lil Bub's vocalizations interpolated into instrumental electronic music tracks. 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 the first video-based on cats internet meme. Its original form was a video made in 1984 by Charlie Schmidt of his cat Fatso seemingly playing a Electronic keyboard, musical keyboard (though manipulated by Schmidt off-camera) to ...

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. Th ...

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 a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

. ''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 World Financial Center may refer to: China * Chongqing World Financial Center * Shanghai World Financial Center * Tianjin World Financial Center United States * Brookfield Place (New York City), formerly the World Financial Center complex ** 200 L ...

Plaza on April 20. Lil Bub did a petting and photo session. Festival co-head

Robert De Niro Robert Anthony De Niro ( , ; born August 17, 1943) is an American actor, director, and film producer. He is considered to be one of the greatest and most influential actors of his generation. De Niro is the recipient of List of awards and ...

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 webseries, short-form series, and web show) is a series of short scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet (i.e. World Wide Web), which first emerged in the late 1 ...

with

Revision3 Revision3 was a San Francisco, California, San Francisco–based Multi-channel network, multi-channel television network that created, produced and distributed streaming television shows on niche topics. Founded in 2005, it operated as a subsidia ...

. 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 1982, the company operated a group of factual and lifestyle television brands, such as the namesake Discovery Cha ...

and

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

. Bridavsky had full writing and

creative control Artistic control or creative control is a term commonly used in media production, such as movies, television, music production, or some other cultural product. A person, or the studio or production company, with artistic control has the authority ...

. 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 ''

'' 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