News, views and top stories in your inbox. Don't miss our must-read newsletter Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

A man who spent years trying to make himself look like a tigress has been found dead.

US Navy veteran Dennis Avner had at least 14 operations trying to morph himself into a feline, complete with whiskers, ears and a mechanical tail.

They included ops to split his top lip and make his ears pointed, silicone cheek and forehead implants, tooth filing and tattoos.

The 54-year-old was found dead his home in Tonopah, Nevada, on November 5.

Friends, who called him ‘as troubled as he was remarkable’, believe he killed himself.

Descended from American Indians, Avner liked to go by his Indian name ‘Stalking Cat.’

He said felt inspired after a discussion with a Native chief who inspired him to ‘follow the ways of the tiger.’

“I am Huron and following a very old tradition have transformed myself into a tiger,” he said on his website.

Avner, who worked as a computer programmer, often appeared at Ripley’s Believe It or Not! events around the world and numerous TV shows.

Shannon Larratt, who knew Stalking Cat, wrote in a blog post that Avner had tried to adopt the spiritual essence of the animal world.

He said tried to transform “himself not just into a tiger, but a female tiger at that, blurring and exploring the gender line as much as the species line.

“A wonderful and complex person, he was at times as troubled as he was remarkable, and he recently took his own life at the age of 54.”