Before Carrie Underwood was an “American Idol” and a country music star, she was an animal-loving Oklahoma college student working part-time at a veterinary clinic.
“I actually volunteered to work at the vet clinic and they just decided to hire me, so it was a way to pay my vet bills” for dog Molly and two cats, Maxi and Mason, all of whom Underwood adopted while working at the clinic. “Molly, my dog, kind of found me and I was a foster parent for her, and nobody ever claimed her, so I ended up keeping her,” Underwood told Self magazine.
The singer says she enjoys using her newfound fame – not to mention the millions she has earned with hits like “Before He Cheats” – to promote her “pet” causes. She filmed a public service announcement that encourages people to spay and neuter their pets, and would like to open an animal shelter one day.
“What happens to abandoned animals is so sad,” she says. “If I say to spay or neuter your pets and 10 people do it, that makes a world of difference. Animals are people too. They are living things that we have domesticated, and they’re our responsibility.”