A rescue husky dog named Bret Michaels has been adopted by the human rock star Bret Michaels.Michaels, 60 — frontman of the glam rock band Poison — first heard the story of his namesake pup when the Nebraska Humane Society shared a Facebook post about the canine, whose blood was used to save a month-old kitten.
“It’s not very often that our own dogs get a chance to be the hero!” Nebraska Humane Society staff wrote in the Oct. 17 post. “When a kitten’s life was hanging in the balance, 6 year old husky Bret Michaels stepped up to save the day.”
The post went on to explain that three stray kittens, each a month old, had been brought into the shelter in Omaha, and one was in rough condition.
“He was wobbly, weak, and lethargic,” the post said. “These symptoms, combined with the state he was in, all pointed to one thing: flea anemia.”
The kitten — who was later named Thorn, after Poison’s 1980′s hit power ballad “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” — was suffering from major blood loss, which caused him to develop anemia. To survive, he needed a blood transfusion.
“Feline blood is very particular, as far as typing goes, and we didn’t have time to figure out what type the little guy was and find a suitable donor,” explained Alec Rose, a digital marketing manager at the shelter. “That process would have taken longer than he actually had.”
The shelter’s vet came up with a backup plan called xenotransfusion, which involves transfusing blood from one species into another. In this case, it was a canine to a cat — or, more specifically, Bret Michaels to Thorn. The dog had recently undergone a full vet exam and bloodwork, and he was deemed a viable donor candidate.
“It was a really neat process,” said Rose, adding that the kitten wouldn’t have made it through the night without receiving a blood transfusion from Bret Michaels. “It ended up working out really well. After 15 minutes, he was doing great, his heartrate had slowed down, he wasn’t shivering nearly as much.”
Thorn is currently being fostered by the vet who performed the blood transfusion, along with his kitten siblings, Bop and Star — also named after Poison songs. While xenotransfusion is generally not a permanent solution, Thorn is taking iron supplements, which has so far been therapeutic.
“The canine transfusion helps hold them over until there is a suitable feline donor, but it wasn’t necessary in this case,” Rose said.
The Facebook post gave a “round of ap-paws” to Bret Michaels for being “such a calm and brave boy.” The story was shared 2,000 times and reached the real Bret Michaels, who is on his Parti-Gras tour. He is performing his solo music as well as Poison hits, and he is accompanied by various special guest bands, including Night Ranger and Jefferson Starship.
Two days after sharing the post, the shelter received a private Facebook message from Bret Michaels’s official account, as well as a public comment.
“Hi — Team Bret reaching out to you about this. What an absolutely amazing story!” the comment said. “We wrote you a private message as well — Bret would like to explore adopting Bret Michaels (the dog).”
“At first, I thought it was a fake account,” said Rose, who later spoke with one of Michaels’s team members. “He was interested in taking him home.”
Then Michaels himself called Rose to hear more about husky Bret Michaels’s story. He learned that the dog was a stray who was found wandering the streets alone at the end of September.
“He’s a really sweet dog,” Rose told the rock star, adding that he is very intelligent and friendly.
Staff had named the canine — who did not have a microchip or collar — “Bret Michaels” for two reasons. First, the shelter often uses certain themes to name strays that come in.
“We happened to be in a rock star category,” said Rose, noting that they also had a Gene Simmons, a Madonna and a Jimmy Buffett. “We have fun with it as much as we can.”
Oddly enough, the person who found the stray husky and brought him to the shelter is also named Bret Michaels.
“That’s the craziest part of the story,” Rose said.
Choosing the dog’s name, he said, “was just obvious.”
When the real rock star reached out requesting to adopt the husky, shelter staff members were floored.
“There was a lot of disbelief at first,” Rose said. “Everybody’s pretty excited.”
They also felt that it was “definitely meant to be,” Rose said, adding that Michaels told him that one of his three German shepherds died a few weeks ago. “So many things aligned for this to happen.”
Rose recalled Michaels saying he would be “honored to add him to our pack.” The musician is a dog lover and animal enthusiast, Rose said, and couldn’t resist having husky Bret Michaels as one of his own. KMTV 3 News Now was the first to report on the adoption.
In a statement to The Washington Post, Bret Michaels said when he heard about the dog, he right away wanted to get involved.
“The story of Bret Michaels, the husky, saving Thorn the kitten’s life with the blood transfusion was beyond incredible,” Michaels said in the statement. “I was immediately moved and personally contacted the Nebraska Humane Society to say ‘Go no further, I will adopt Bret Michaels, the husky.’”
“I’ve had pets ever since I was a child,” Michaels added. “Being diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at the age of six, it is family and friends, along with pets, music, sports and incredible fans that have kept my spirits rocking.”
While Michaels is on tour, a friend of his who runs a dog ranch in Georgia has offered to look after the pup and train him. Michaels is planning to meet the dog — who left the shelter Saturday — in person next week.
“I’m honored to extend the awesome quality of little Bret Jr.'s life,” Michaels said.