Rock Star Bret Michaels Adopts Blood Donor Dog With The Same Name As Him

Bret Michaels, the frontman of the iconic rock band Poison, is making headlines for recently adopting a hero dog named after himself.

The hooman and doggo duo’s story started when the six-year-old Husky went viral for becoming a hero and donating blood to save a kitten’s life at the Nebraska Humane Society.

The Nebraska Humane Society posted Bret Michaels The Husky’s story on their Facebook page on Wednesday, October 18. They started the post with, “It’s not very often that our own dogs get a chance to be the hero!”

In the post, the animal shelter revealed that they were working on three kittens when they noticed that the third kitten had flea anemia.

“Our kitten couldn’t wait for testing to be done to determine a suitable feline donor, but veterinary science has a trick up its sleeve: canine blood can be transfused into felines.”

Thankfully, Bret had bloodwork done recently, and was a good candidate to donate.

The shelter revealed that while the blood transfusion was not permanent, it gave the kitten what it needed the most: time.

They wrote, “Soon after the first round of transfusion, little man [the kitten] started showing signs of improvement.”

The Nebraska Humane Society applauded the pup “for being such a calm and brave boy” and revealed that he was up for adoption and is still waiting for his forever home.

The post quickly went viral and garnered over 4,000 reactions, 2,000 shares, and 345 comments.

And on October 21, the Nebraska Humane Society posted an update on Bret. They revealed, “Well, word got around to THE Bret Michaels who loved the story and wanted to chat with us. One phone call later and guess who’s gonna be living the rock star life from here on out? That’s right!”

Rockstar Bret Michaels tell PEOPLE in an exclusive interview, “I could not have been more touched and more honored to adopt Bret Michaels the husky, knowing that he gave blood to save the life of a kitten.”

PEOPLE also revealed that Michaels’ decision to adopt the pooch came shortly after he lost his 14-year-old dog, Phoenix.

Michaels’ revealed that his namesake pooch’s story “brought a smile back into my family’s life.”

“We have always donated to incredible pet drives and charities, and will continue to [home] Bret Jr., who … has now found a loving family that also includes our two rescue shepherds, Nova and Draco,” he tells PEOPLE.

After adopting the hero dog, Michaels posted on his social media accounts, introducing the husky and calling him “li’l Bret Michaels”.

He also revealed that the kitten his namesake pup saved is named Roses & Thorn. And while li’l Bret Michaels found his forever home and will be living the rock star life, Michaels revealed that they’re still looking for a forever home for the kitten.

He wrote, “It takes a village of awesomeness & now I have a new mission…to find an incredible home for the kitten!”