Randeep Hooda’s fondness for animals has grown into a passion to rescue and care for them. As his cat Toffee, the enthu cutlet that she is, refuses to sit still during the shoot, the actor recalls how she came into their lives.

“She was being aggressively chased by a male cat, so a person in my office chased him away and brought her to the office. We took her to the vet, got her inoculated and fed her,” he tells us, adding, “She stayed [with us], but as you can see, you can’t control her. Cats will take over the world!”

The Inspector Avinash actor, whose love for horse-riding is well known, currently owns seven horses and a dog named Bambi. Ask Laishram how it feels to join the big family, and she says Bambi accepted her in no time. But, she is still waiting for the horses to recognize her.

“Randeep would be out on shoots often, so it would be only me and Bambi in the house. She was like a watch dog. No one could enter the room when she was there, she would protect me. Now, Toffee has adopted us,” she laughs.

As animal lovers, it breaks their heart to think of the fate that many pets suffered during the Covid-induced lockdown and how so many of them were abandoned. “You have to care for your pet like a parent. You have to make adjustments,” says Laishram, as Hooda chimes in, “Humans are selfish, I guess, that’s why they abandoned their pets. It is very unfair... This is the biggest misconception people have while adopting pets. Initially, they feel love and affection. But, you have to be a responsible caretaker even after that wears off. Like [when] Bambi started getting aggressive, we had to deal with it. When a small puppy grows up [and needs care], that’s where the real test of you begins as a human being and a pet parent.”