Star Pets! Meet the Rescued Animals of Your Favorite Celebrities

Sharing your home and life with a pet is an incredibly enriching experience, filled with love, cuddles and lots of slobbery kisses (or prickly ones for all those cat parents out there. Represent!). This holds true no matter who you are or what you do, be it the regular old folk like us who do our thing in incognito mode or the star-studded celebs that grace magazine covers and movie screens world wide. Loving animals, as it turns out, is the great equalizer. A subject for people from all walks of life to find common ground.

Celebrities can afford any kind of exotic companion that they want and some of them do. Money is literally no object for those that feel even their pets need to be designer, which makes it so impressive to see those who still choose to open their homes to a homeless animal instead. There are approximately 70 million stray animals living in the US, with six to eight million of them winding up in the shelter system annually. That’s an astronomically number of animals that need good homes, if only they would be given a chance.

In the case of these sweethearts, a chance is exactly what they got! Rescued from shelters or right off of the streets, these kind-hearted celebrities chose to give a needy animal a shot and we’re so happy that they did. By adopting instead of shopping, these famous pet parents gained a friend while saving a life. Now, that’s a headline we love!

Ian Somerhalder and Moke

Moke is part of a large and varied family of rescues who share their lives with the Vampire Diaries star and founder of the Ian Somerhalder Foundation. This animal loving heart throb also parents a dog named Nietzche, another kitty named Sohalia and even a horse named Eagle.

Pet Spy Jamas

Ellen with Wolf and Mabel

It is utterly unsurprising the Ellen Degeneres is an animal lover, everyone knows that . But, did you know that she and wife Portia de Rossi have 2 dogs and three cats named Charlie, George and Chairman? You do now!

 Pet Spy Jamas

Danny Trejo with Cash and Penny Lane

When you’re known as Machete, pictures of you with your rescued buddies in an adoption campaign for Best Friends Animal Society are so just that much more awesome awesome.

Ecorazzi

Jessica Biel and Tina

A vocal advocate for pit bulls, Jessica Biel loves to take Tina out and fills her social media feeds with pictures of them together.

InStyle

Amanda Seyfried and Finn

Amanda is unapologetically over the moon for adopted Finn, but can you blame her? Saying of her baby, “”I’m obsessed with my dog. He’s become my son and my light source and kind of a savior to a lot of people, a lot of my friends.”

 Life With Dogs

Kaley Cuoco with Norman and Shirley

When she’s not campaigning against Canadian seal hunting, Kaley is championing pit bulls, like the three that she shares her home with named Norman, Shirley and Loretta.

I Love Dogs

James Franco with Sammy and Zelda

The Pineapple Express star is an unabashed cat person, naming his feline friends Sammy after the titular character of the book What Makes Sammy Run and Zelda for F. Scott Fitzgerald’s wife.

 E Online

Ricky Gervais and Ollie

Fun, outrageous and a steadfast voice for animals, Mr. Gervais pals around with his rescued love Ollie every chance he gets.

 Herald Sun

Josh Duhamel with Zoe and Meatloaf

“I can speak from experience: [adopting] was the smartest thing we’ve done when it comes to owning a pet.” Said the Transformers star of his commitment to rescuing.

 People Pets

Kellan Lutz with Kola and Kevin

Rescuing pets became is so important for the Twilight heartthrob after he found Kola at a local shelter,  Lutz starred in the PETA2 ad campaign “Adopt, Don’t Buy” to help spread the message.

 A Letter to My Dog

Paul Wesley and Cat

The Vampire Diaries star and recipient of the Humane Society of The United States Humane Generation Award  rescued Cat when he saw the poor kitty shivering under a car in freezing winter weather.

Glamour

Lead Image Credit: Glamour