The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden has had to say goodbye to one of its very special big cats.According to the zoo's blog, Redd the cheetah passed away over the weekend with an "unexpectedly rapid decline in health.""Redd was one of those animals that touched the hearts of everyone he met," Meredith Hughes wrote in Sunday's post.Born to a litter that featured two sisters - Willow and Cathryn - Redd was originally supposed to go to another zoo, but "Redd's sweet personality won us over and we couldn't let him go," the zoo said.Redd was born premature and struggled with things like not transitioning to eating meat well, so he began a feeding port at a young age and, later in life, had corrective hip surgery, which left him with a funny walk.“I will never forget the number of kids that would come to the zoo to see Redd, because they too had a feeding tube, and could connect with Redd," said Senior trainer Andie. "Some of my favorite memories were when I was doing a program with Redd and would talk about his feeding tube and a kid would raise their hand and say that they had a feeding tube as well. Redd would lay there and purr and let me show the kids his scar from the feeding tube and show the kids that he made it through, they can as well.” "Redd was the sweetest animal many of us have ever had the pleasure of working with. He truly loved everyone and would connect with you in a way that is hard to describe," the zoo's blog post continues. "We are forever grateful for the time we had with Redd and the joy that he brought to us and the many visitors that loved him."The specifics of Redd's health conditions that caused his death were not revealed.