Lil Bub

Lil Bub was the runt of a feral litter, found in a rural Indiana toolshed, and born with a multitude of genetic anomalies. An extreme form of dwarfism left her limbs small, and her teeth never came in, so her tongue always poked out. Her owner, Mike Bridavsky, posted about her on Tumblr, and her wide-eyed face took off from there. What makes her essential is what that fame paid for. From 2014, Lil BUB's BIG Fund with the ASPCA supported special-needs pets, administering over $400,000 in grants to shelters. She died in her sleep on December 1, 2019, after a persistent bone infection. Her story shows how a cat with real health conditions could be celebrated without being turned into a punchline.