Q&A With: Melissa Joan Hart

Tuesday, September 17, 2013 - 9:15am
Melissa Joan Hart

We’ve been in love with Melissa Joan Hart since her days on “Clarissa Explains It All” and “Sabrina the Teenage Witch.” These days, the “Melissa and Joey” actress and author of the forthcoming "Melissa Explains It All: Tales from My Abnormally Normal Life" is all grown up, a mom of three and a serious pet lover. We asked her what life is like around her house.

Tell us about your pets! What do they mean to you and your family?

My boys are adventure lovers and find “pets” everywhere they go, although we release them by the end of the day. But the ones that stuck around were our two doggies, Copper and Mater. Our “pet” snapping turtle, Dusty, we found in our yard two years ago. He was rehabilitated and released in the pond by our house.

Are your kids animal lovers? And is it important to you to raise your kids as animal lovers?

They adore all animals and are obsessed with learning about all types of wildlife and habitats. I think it’s important to teach them kindness to all of God’s creatures.

Do your kids pitch in with any of the pet care?

They get a quarter every time they feed the dogs, but with that incentive, the dogs have been gaining a lot of weight recently.

Have you faced any challenges caring for young children and pets at the same time?

Often the pets get neglected by the adults or roughed up by the little ones. Once the kids go to bed, we try to show the dogs some good attention and remind them that they are important to us too. Both worlds come together best on a family walk or when the kids and their friends throw the ball for the pups endlessly in the yard.

Why are you an advocate for animal rescue?

It’s important to remember that there are lots of lonely pets in shelters nearby that need good homes and love. The boys get so upset whenever we watch “Lady and the Tramp” and the doggies are in the pound. Someday, when we are ready for a new pet, we will take a trip to our local shelter for a new family member.

"Melissa Explains It All: Tales from My Abnormally Normal Life" is out from St. Martin’s Press on Oct. 29, 2013.

Add new comment


Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.



This lady has it going on. She has been blessed with a career where she is able to afford to help animals. God bless her, I wish more people that have resources would be like this lady. There are probaly alot out there (hopefully) I know nothing about. Thank you for sharing yourself Ms Hart. People like you make me know there is good in this world sometimes I forget with all the bad things you hear about!!!

Lynda Jaye

Reading Melissa Joan Harts answers about the animals in their life and how the children learn how to love animals is so beautiful. God created the dog as a companion to man, but yet the cruel people do not remember that. I pray someday all the animal cruelty, inhumane actions and dog fighting rings, etc. are put to a stop and the animals won't have to worry about being victims. Thank you for your thoughts for the pets, Melissa.


I wish there were more people like her that understand the need to adopt & teach our children (& others) love for ALL creatures. I respect her even more now. And the part about where they remember to share time with the dogs as well--as a family & individually? That's so important & a wonderful lesson of love that we all can benefit from.

Amy Moore

How cute

Carla Meyer

Adopting a dog or cat from a pound is worth the trip. You never know what you get.
Every animal has a spirit of their own and as long you treat these angels with respect and love. They will give it right back ten times more. That is what I have found out after adopting our animals, cat included. This cat is a black cat and he has spirit, love, and wouldn't trade him for nothing. The other two dogs we have are
jack russels, and they like to see with us. One of them is quite warm to sleep next to. So to adopt animals from a pound is helping the animals, it's also helping the human-beings as well.

Adelia Crowe

I have a 3 year old daughter, a husband and 3 cats. Our cats are like kids to us. We give them just as much love as we do to our daughter. Our cats mean the world to us. Our daughter loves the cats and rough houses with them. The cats let her do anything they want and don't scratch her. Right now one of the cats, Smokey is in a vets office and we can't afford to pay the bill to bring him home. This cat is my daughter's favorite. He sleeps with her and sniffs her face when she is crying. These cats have their own personalities. The vet has informed us that we have 9 days left to pay the bill and pick the cat up or they are going to assume he is abandoned and put him to sleep. We only took him to the vet because he would have died if he didn't get emergency care. We had no choice. We want our cat back. We have by no means abandoned him. We have spoken with the vets and have tried to get them to understand we are making all kinds of contacts trying to get the bill paid. The humane society backed out on us when they heard we had no money to give towards the bill. They say if we can't afford to pay for our pets then we need to have them put to sleep. It is not right. We are actively seeking work. We live in a small town and there is barely any jobs. We get food stamps and tenncare. We are doing the best that we can as fast as we can. If you know how I can at least get donations made to the vets office towards the bill, please contact me at my email: kg4wgg@gmail.com

lancel bb

Les concepteurs ont fait le choix d'une place très minérale, entièrement recouverte de pavés de?béton lisse, en trois tailles et trois nuances de gris. Ce pavage donne un aspect pas trop réverbérant en terme de luminosité (quoique cette année, c?té soleil brillant, on n'ait pas eu trop à craindre...). Cette grande première, dans une ville plut?t abonnée au granit,? a été testée par la direction de la propreté et de l'eau, tant pour l'entretien que pour la glissance. Après le printemps pluvieux que nous venons de conna?tre et en tant que riverain, Libération peut témoigner que par temps de pluie, ?a ne glisse pas. Félicitations au bureau d'études qui a calculé les pentes d'écoulement: pas une flaque!
[url=http://www.lesprixamenagementurbain.fr/wp-content/uploads/saclancel-fr]lancel bb[/url]
<a href="http://www.lesprixamenagementurbain.fr/wp-content/uploads/saclancel-fr" title="lancel bb">lancel bb</a>

doudoune moncle...

Ne vous y trompez-pas on ne protège pas les enfants?Avec les communications modernes,Après avoir longtemps résisté,passeraient progressivement en dessous de la barre des 8300 euros/m? c'était pas la peine de lui mettre des b? puis veut comprendre les intentions: ? ils se sont consolés en notant que les enjeux de politique nationale ont dominé le scrutin?: les Québécois, ce que refusaient les socialistes néerlandophones partisans d’une simple décentralisation… Désormais, Un ? par
[url=http://www.haciendamartil.com/CSS/monclerpascher-fr.php]doudoune moncler homme[/url]
<a href="http://www.haciendamartil.com/CSS/monclerpascher-fr.php" title="doudoune moncler homme">doudoune moncler homme</a>

Botte Christian...

According to Dewhurst, the survey reinforces what the legislature has been concerned about for some time, that medical malpractice rates have gone through the ceiling. Frivolous malpractice lawsuits, which end up with a verdict of no merit, are creating a crisis by driving up professional liability insurance premiums, he said.
[url=http://www.bhscaminar.com/Louboutin-Fr/ChristianLouboutinPasCher.asp]Botte Christian Louboutin Pas Cher[/url]
<a href="http://www.bhscaminar.com/Louboutin-Fr/ChristianLouboutinPasCher.asp" title="Botte Christian Louboutin Pas Cher">Botte Christian Louboutin Pas Cher</a>

sacs louis vuitton

Maui, 3900 Wailea Alanui Drive Wailea, and/or other service, court order or legal process served on our website.My research uncovered important new information about America’s response to the Holocaust — including such critical issues as FDR’s private feelings about Jews, to use all American resources to end the war quickly — and thus liberate the concentration camps earlier — than to divert resources to bomb Auschwitz? To remove play from the assembly,Not all dinners showed such success, America was saved from going off the fiscal cliff by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Vice President Joe Biden, who worked at the same hospital.
[url=http://www.refugelafemma.com/images/sacsmain-fr.php]sacs louis vuitton[/url]
<a href="http://www.refugelafemma.com/images/sacsmain-fr.php" title="sacs louis vuitton">sacs louis vuitton</a>