World’s favorite runt cat is charitable, too
When Lil Bub and Mike Bridavsky met, it was by serendipitous chance.
“Bub was born the runt of a feral litter,” says Bridavsky, who lives with Lil Bub in Bloomington, Ind., and often refers to himself as her “Dude,” preferring it to “other weird titles” like owner or parent. “She was found by my very close friend’s girlfriend’s sister’s roommate’s boyfriend’s mom in a toolshed in Indiana.”
That was in 2011, right before pictures of Lil Bub and her distinctive features — a perpetually hanging pink tongue and big, green, moonlike eyes — went viral on Tumblr, eventually spreading and capturing millions of hearts on the internet. Bridavsky, who owns the music studio Russian Recording and does studio design consulting on the side, started posting photos of Lil Bub online, something he did for his four other cats, just as a fun way to share snapshots with family and friends. But then the followers started mounting. They started buying Lil Bubbranded Tshirts. By the the summer of 2012, she was invited to appear on “Good Morning America.”
“It all sort of spiraled out of control,” Bridavsky recalls.
Now Lil Bub has just turned 8 years old and has 2.3 million followers on Instagram and 3 million likes on Facebook. She’s starred in a Vice documentary that premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, eventually winning the Tribeca Online Festival Best Feature Film award, and she’s even written a book titled “Lil Bub’s Lil Book: The Extraordinary Life of the Most Amazing Cat on the Planet.” (Bridavsky actually wrote the book, but in Lil Bub’s perspective as if she wrote it.)
And that’s not all. Lil Bub hosts special meetandgreets and does appearances all across the country, including one on Saturday, July 27, at San Jose’s Club Auto Sport Event Center. Lil Bub is expected to present a special “fortune show” for Silicat Valley Cat Convention & Festival, San Jose’s annual cat convention where cat lovers, felinefriendly vendors and celebrity cats gather for meetandgreets, comedy shows and much more.
“She’s kind of the OGs — kind of like with Grumpy Cat,” says Brandon Zavala, the executive producer of Silicat Valley, referring to internet cat sensation Grumpy Cat, who died in May. “She’s been around ever since the beginning of cat cons.”
Zavala says what particularly drew him to Lil Bub was the character she has for her special shows — a “space cat that knows all” and can tell fortunes to bystanders. That’s the story Bridavsky likes to share, in conversation or even in Lil Bub’s book, which talks about her “futureseeing abilities” and her home planet of Bub Ub Bub.
“I still think that Bub crashlanded in the woods in her spaceship,” Bridavsky says, “and then sort of made her way into this toolshed and found this litter and just tried to fit in with them.”
When Bridavsky adopted Lil Bub, it was clear to him that she would need special care to survive. Later, appointments with a veterinarian revealed that Lil Bub’s unique appearance is due to a series of “genetic anomalies.” Lil Bub’s small size is because she is a “permakitten” and has dwarfism, meaning her limbs are smaller than her body. And her signature hanging tongue is actually the result of having no teeth — they just never grew.
Bridavsky says Lil Bub is also the only cat ever diagnosed with osteopetrosis, a bone disease that makes mobility difficult for his famous furry friend. But he believes that travel actually helps because the vibrations from car movements can help grind down on her bones, a healthy alternative for a cat whose bones grow too densely.
Still, Bridavsky stays cautious about the weight of fame for Lil Bub.
“I didn’t set out to do this. I really genuinely feel like this is her purpose, and that’s why she found me,” says Bridavsky, who emphasizes he never wants to exploit Lil Bub. “I was very honored that she chose me, and I was going to do the best job I could.”
That’s why Bridavsky has a set of rules as Lil Bub’s Dude. Bridavsky doesn’t ever seek out publicity or opportunities himself. If media outlets — like The Chronicle — reach out to him, then Bridavsky feels like they were “meant to happen.”
“I think she stands apart because she’s not just an ‘internet cat,’ she’s a very special cat. Period. Regardless of the internet,” Bridavsky says.
Another rule? Everything they do has to have a “charitable component.” Even in the beginning, Bridavsky says that he felt uncomfortable keeping the money they made from Lil Bub merchandise, and preferred donating the proceeds to a local shelter. That charitable spirit has since expanded to include Lil Bub’s Big Fund, which collects money in collaboration with the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to help “homeless cats and cats with special needs.”
“She actually gives back 100% of her proceeds to the ASPCA,” Zavala says about Lil Bub’s upcoming fortune show at Silicat Valley. “So when she visits, it’s always for a great cause.”
Since the fund’s founding in 2014, Lil Bub has raised $425,000. Money Bridavsky and Lil Bub earn from making appearances and through corporate partnerships also goes toward this fund.
“It’s her legacy,” Bridavsky says. “I really feel like that’s what part of her purpose here is.”