This article originally appeared on Dr. Mahaney’s Pet-Lebrity News column on Pet360.com as Twilight Star Nikki Reed Adopts Pet Rat Into Her Animal Loving Life.
I love learning either firsthand or through media reports about the animal family members making up the households of celebrities. Typically, dogs and cats make up the most common animals chosen for companionship, yet we sometimes encounter some unusual choices of pets in celebrity realm (see Justin Bieber’s Monkey Kept From Entering Germany).
Such is the case with actress, singer, songwriter, and model Nikki Reed who included the conventional selection of canine companions into her household but more recently announced she was adopting a pet rat.
You may be familiar with Reed from her recurring role portraying vampire Rosalie Hale in the Twilight Saga. Not being the biggest enthusiast of movies or television shows involving bloodsucking creatures, I was more captivated by Reed’s strong performance in the realistic and compelling teen-drama film Thirteen. In the flick, Reed’s Evie provides a corrupting influence to Evan Rachel Wood’s 13-year-old character Tracy (hence the movie’s title) and things gets quite out of hand through the climactic altercation between Evie, Tracy, and Tracy’s mother (Holly Hunter). Hunter and Wood both received Golden Globe nominations for their roles, but Reed also left an impression her formidable acting chops. Reed was also a writer on the film.
Reed is quite the animal lover and her Instagram page is filled with posts of her pets, including her German Shepherd Dog Enzo covered in sand on the beach with the endearing caption:
“Gorgeous picture of my boy. This kid looooves the sand…maybe a little too much. Totally worth the mess. Photo cred his uncle @nathanaugustreed”
Loving All Animals
Reed also shows great interest in animal welfare causes as she posted a photo of two Pit Bull puppies snuggling with a male surrogate Pit Bull in the absence of their mother with the following call for action:
“These little boys need a home! Anyone interested? The mom died, so this sweet male has agreed to snuggle them until they find a home! Email info@thisisaust.com “
Reed even has sharpened her designer skills to promote dog lovers to stretch their wallet to raise funds for animals in need. She posted a photo of Enzo and herself with the caption:
“Here’s a behind the scenes shot from today’s photo shoot for the collar and leash set I designed for @Gilt with @FoundMyAnimal. It will be available Oct 1st on gilt.com and 100% of the proceeds go to the @ASPCA !!!!!!!!!”
Consider her proclaimed fancy of dogs, what motivates Reed to adopt a pet rat? Perez Hilton shared Reed’s enthusiasm and view of her impending rodent adoption in stating:
“I’m on my way to pick up my new baby rat. I’m animal obsessed! I basically have a farm in my house. I do feel like by buying rats from a pet store, you are saving them because if not, they would get fed to a snake or something.”
Although a rat sounds to be a bit of an unusual choice of animal companion, they are actually touted to be quite enjoyable and fairly low maintenance pets. The ASPCA features a Rat Care guide providing the lowdown on basic rat-ownership and caretaking responsibilities.
Besides dogs and now a rat (possibly rats in the future?), Reed also has an affinity for large animals. She adopted a horse with boyfriend and fellow actor and animal welfare advocate Ian Somerhalder who took to his IanSomerhalder Instagram account to share a photo of he and Reed’s new equine pal Eagle (and clued in the world as to his rumored relationship with Reed) with the caption:
Proud new dad. What amazing creatures they are. Wow. His name is Eagle. Thank you @iamnikkireed for snapping this special moment, with our big baby boy.
Accolades go out to Reed and Sommerholder for their endeavors to make the world a more humane place by helping animals en masse or one adoption at a time.
Although I certainly would love to provide veterinary services for dogs owned by Reed and Somerhalder, all have to defer to my veterinary colleagues having more experience with pocket pets (like Dr. Olivia Petritz at ACCESS LA) to provide the best wellness care to keep Reed’s rat healthy for some time to come.
Copyright of this article (2014) is owned by Dr Patrick Mahaney, Veterinarian and Certified Veterinary Acupuncturist. Republishing any portion of this article must first be authorized by Dr Patrick Mahaney. Requests for republishing must be approved by Dr Patrick Mahaney and received in written format.
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