Kaley Cuoco is facing criticism after sharing the "heartbreaking decision" she made to rehome her beloved dog.
On Monday, Cuoco addressed the situation on social media, explaining her reasons for rehoming the pet while announcing the dog's death.
"Most of you know I had [Shirley] for many, many, many years," Cuoco began in a video uploaded to Instagram.
"All of a sudden, you kind of stopped seeing her, and I started to get a lot of questions as to where she was, because it's very unlike me to just stop posting about a dog that I've had since she was 6 weeks old," she continued.
Kaley Cuoco elaborated that her decision to rehome her dog, Shirley, was driven by "intense conflicts" with her fiance Tom Pelphrey's dog, Blue.
"Shirley was very special to me, as you all know," Cuoco shared. "When the love of my life, Tom- a huge dog lover-moved across the country with his beautiful German Shepherd, Blue, things got complicated. Unfortunately, a couple of years ago, Blue and Shirley started getting into major fights."
The Big Bang Theory star revealed that Shirley became "determined to harm" Blue, and the situation only escalated. "I loved her deeply, but I was genuinely afraid. I didn't want something terrible to happen or for someone to get hurt by accident," Cuoco said.
Ultimately, she rehomed Shirley with her pet handler, Tony, and his wife, Angie, who had been helping care for her. "They loved her so, so much, and it was an excruciating decision," she explained.
Cuoco then shared that Shirley recently died from "a very aggressive bone cancer." Through tears, she added, "She was almost 14 years old, which is an incredible life for a dog. I just wanted to share her story and what we had to do."
Following her revelation, Cuoco faced backlash from fans on social media, with many expressing disappointment over her decision to rehome the dog.
A user wrote, "I thought she was an advocate for abandoned dogs?"
Another user commented, "There's not a shot in hell I would give away my dog for any bf. Poor Shirley was never considered family; she was just a disposable animal!"
The third user wrote, "One day he'll be out her life and she's going to regret that she made that choice"
The fourth user asked, "Why didn't the boyfriend give up his dog? Why didn't they put both dogs through a training/ behavioural program?"
"I'm utterly disgusted," the fifth user commented.
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