Updated

If there’s one thing that gets Kaley Cuoco fired up is the idea that anyone can hand over their pet to an animal shelter after years of loyalty.

“It makes me sick,” the 31-year-old actress told the Los Angeles Times. “They act like dogs are trash. They act like dogs are a water bottle you can just throw away.”

The “Big Bang Theory” star is so determined to rescue dogs in need that she began working with pit bulls 10 years ago. Cuoco was hoping to shed light on the common misconception that all pit bulls are dangerous and deserve mistreatment.

“I just found them to be so incredible,” she explained. “I realized what great dogs they were, and how horribly they were seen. And I just didn’t want that to happen anymore. So it became a passion.”

And in between acting or “playing pretend,” she works with Paw Works, her nonprofit rescue organization that collaborates with shelters in Los Angeles to place abandoned animals in loving homes.

“You know, an animal is so innocent,” she said. “They have no voice… I want to kind of be a voice for them, and speak up for them. “It’s because they’re old. So many people come in and drop off dogs they’ve had for years and they don’t want anymore because they’re old.”

The equestrian has adopted her own pit bull named Norman, after English DJ Norman Cook of Fatboy Slim. She even named her Instagram page after the pooch, where she has 3.2 million followers.

But Norman isn’t the only star in Cuoco’s household. The publication added she has 10 pets and has developed social media personalities for each of them during her spare time.

She doesn’t ever regret dedicating her life to dogs.

“I live by this saying,” she said. “I don’t know who quoted it, but it’s like: Who rescued who? And I just think that’s the sweetest thing. Because it’s true. It changes your life.”