On Tuesday, AJ Allmendinger shared a sad update on Twitter. The 41-year-old racer’s pet cat Mr. Tickles passed away on Sunday night at approximately 11 PM ET.
In his initial Tweet, Allmendinger said, “It’s taken me a couple of days to write this. It’s with enormous sadness I relay the news that Tara and I lost our sweet boy @tickles_thecat who passed away Sunday night unexpectedly. He was the best cat we could have ever asked for. He was our family and there will be a huge void…”
Four minutes after the initial Tweet, Allmendinger finished the statement by Tweeting, “left in our hearts. Tickles had a lot of fans and I always loved being called Mr. Tickles’ dad at the racetrack. Always made me smile. Thank you to all who followed and loved seeing his posts. Tara and I will be forever grateful we rescued him from under the dumpster #4everacatdad”
Mr. Tickles, according to the Twitter account that Allmendinger started for his pet, was seven and a half years old.
According to a post from Mr. Tickles’ Twitter account, the Allmendingers, “landed in Statesville, NC after the race in Daytona, and everything was great. But seconds later we experienced extreme shock as Mr. Tickles locked up, went limp, and passed immediately.”
The emergency veterinarian that treated Mr. Tickles says that the cat likely had a blood clot and suffered little if any.
Mr. Tickles, while only living a life of seven years, did a lot in his time on Earth. The cat, which was found under a dumpster, traveled the country with AJ Allmendinger and amassed a Twitter following of 6,839 followers.
Allmendinger, who has returned to full-time NASCAR Cup Series competition in 2023, started his season off with a sixth-place finish in a wild Daytona 500 on Sunday.
The Calfornia native sits ninth in the NASCAR Cup Series championship standings after the first of 36 events in 2023.
So sad he was a really cute cat.