Big Bang Theory star Kaley Cuoco sparks debate over ‘excruciating decision’ to rehome her dog after it kept fighting with fiance’s pet

The Big Bang Theory actor has opened up about why her little dog Shirley can no longer be spotted on her social media.

Kaley Cuoco - best known for playing Penny on CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory - is an avid dog lover and has been adopting animals for years.

However, the 38-year-old has since revealed she had to make the 'devastating' decision to re-home one of her pets after being left 'scared' for its safety and the safety of those around it.

Taking to her Instagram in a post shared on Monday (November 25), Cuoco uploaded a video explaining something had 'been weighing on [her] mind'.

The actor said she thinks it's particularly important to be 'honest' given her work with animals and wanted to share the story of one of her dogs called Shirley.

"I wanted to talk about a little dog named Shirley. Most of you know I had her for many, many, many years and all of a sudden you stopped seeing her and I started to get a lot of questions as to where she was, because it's very unlike me to stop posting about a dog that I'd had since she was six weeks old."

Cuoco continued: "So, long story short, she's a very special dog to me - as you all know. And when the love of my life came into my life, Tom, who is also a mega dog lover, and he moved across the country with his beautiful German Shepherd, Blue, a couple of years ago, unfortunately Blue and Shirley started getting into some fights.

"[...] And it was very scary, she got in fights with other dogs. [...] And Shirley had gotten in other dog fights before and it really scared me and the problem with it is she's such a people dog, loves people, loves kids, loves families - I cherished that dog.

"We obviously bring new dogs into our home and I started to get really worried she would really hurt another animal and I needed to make a very, very difficult decision that I think it's good that I'm sharing it because I'm sure there are people out there who've had to make this decision."

Cuoco ultimately revealed they had to make the difficult decision Shirley should no longer live with them 'because of how she was behaving'.

"I loved her so much but I was really scared. And I didn't want something really bad to happen or possibly a person accidentally be there and get hurt," she added.

Shirley subsequently went to a pet handler the actor knows where she has been so 'loved'.

The actor added: "It was an excruciating decision for me. I've never had to - I would never say give her up - but place a dog elsewhere, I always knew I could take care of them. But this was for the safety of Shirley herself and and I didn't want her to end up in a home."

However, the decision has faced a divided response on social media.

One Twitter user said: "You should be hurt and ashamed! You rehomed Shirley for a man! Poor thing. She didn’t know why you didn’t love her anymore. You are NOT an animal lover."

However, another wrote: "Sometimes you gotta make hard choices with pets even if it breaks your heart. i had to rehome my cat last year and i still think about her everyday."

Cuoco revealed Shirley has since sadly passed away.

"So she's been living the life out on the most beautiful farm [...] for years," she continued. "I did just received news she has passed. She got a very aggressive bone cancer that came on very quickly. She was almost 14 years old which is an unbelievable life for a dog."

Cuoco noted she's 'devastated' Shirley is no longer with us and wanted to take the opportunity to be 'honest' about her story and thank the handlers for giving Shirley such an 'amazing' end to her life.

She resolved: "I thought I'd be really judged for this decision and I was really afraid to talk about it. [...] It was a serious decision that needed to be made as a family and I think we did the right thing."

"I thought I owed it to the animal community, to myself but mostly to Shirley to tell everyone how amazing she was."