Daily Times

Kaley Cuoco is sharing a difficult decision in her life. The Big Bang Theory alum provided more insight into why she opted to rehome her dog Shirley, who recently died of cancer, after her fiancé Tom Pelphrey moved in.

“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,” Kaley explained in a Nov. 24 Instagram video. “The love of my life came into my life, Tom-who is also a mega dog lover-moved across the country with his beautiful German Shepherd, Blue, a couple of years ago. Unfortunately, Blue and Shirley started getting into some mega fights. Shirley was determined to kill him.”

“Shirley had gotten into other dog fights before and it really scared me,” she continued. “I started to get really worried she would hurt other animals. I had to make a very, very difficult decision. She just could not live with us with how she was behaving.”

But the 38-year-old-who shares 19-month-old daughter Matilda with Tom-emphasized how much she loved Shirley, adding, “It was an excruciating decision for me.”

However, she was able to place the pitbull mix in the care of her pet handlers Tony and his wife Angie a few years ago.

“This was for the safety of Shirley herself,” the Oh Norman! founder explained. “I didn’t want her to end up in a home that didn’t understand her because she is so special and I’ve had her for so long. So, she’d been living the life out on the most beautiful farm with Tony and Angie for years, alongside other dogs that we rescued over the past few years.”

She also shared that the 14-year-old dog had passed away following a short battle with a “very aggressive bone cancer that came on very quickly.”

“What we had to do was the right thing to do for our family and really for Shirley,” the Flight Attendant star noted. “She had an amazing life with us and an amazing last for years with Tony and Angie. I am devastated that she has gone over the rainbow bridge.”

But Kaley and Tom, who often rescue dogs, aren’t the only dog lovers in their family. In fact, the mom of one previously shared how they passed on their love for pets to their little one.

As someone who “thought I was going to be a forever dog owner” until Matilda came along, she told E! News last October that it’s been a “dream” to have her daughter mesh with their family’s dogs. “My kid is so amazing, but being able to raise her around all of our animals in such a healthy way has been so special,” she gushed. “It’s been incredible.”