Carla Dunareanu is no stranger to pets. For as long as this Romanian-Chinese actress-TV host could remember, her family has always had a cat or dog in the house.

“I’ve never not had an animal,” she told FN in an exclusive interview.

As a certified animal advocate, Carla believes in pet adoption and has, in fact, rescued a stray kitten below her apartment, which she named Charlie..

“I think she was about a month old when I found her, and I thought it was a black kitten until I brought her home and I gave her a shower, and I was like, woah--she's actually white! So, at the moment, she's really healthy, really fat, and she runs the house, of course,” Carla says fondly.

And while Carla has yet to find a playmate for Charlie, she urges would-be pet parents to consider adopting a pet instead of buying from a store. Why? Here are five reasons:

(Photo by Jennifer Chan)