National Pet Day: Rithvikk Dhanjani talks about his dog Murphey

On National Pet Day today, Rithvikk Dhanjani gets excited as he talks about his pet dog Murphey. The actor informs that while he always wanted a pet, his mother was completely against it. But then Murphey came to his life due to his close friends and actor-couple Ravi Dubey and Sargun Mehta. “When they had their first puppy Moyo, I felt like it was my calling. I requested Sargun if she could get me one of Moyo’s brothers.”
But the 35-year-old still didn’t know how to convince his mother, so he made a cheeky plan. “It was my sister’s birthday, and I thought I would just show up with a puppy. If mom asks, I would say it’s my sister’s gift and my sister could say it’s me who gave it to her. Mom would have to deal with it. And today, the situation is that my mom can disown me, but she can’t disown Murphey,” he quips.
Dhanjani swells with pride as he talks about being a pet parent. He says, “Having a pet is not just like having any dog or cat, it’s also an emotional fallback. That kind of love can never be replaced. My baby sometimes even becomes my parent when I don’t have anyone to talk to. He listens, he understands and he is there in my highs and lows.”
The actor even revealed a magical incident when Murphey took over his problems on himself. “When Murphey was 1.5-2 years old, I had caught a very bad malaria or cold. I couldn’t get out of bed but the next day, I woke up all fresh like nothing had happened. Then, the next thing we see is that Murphey has fallen sick with fever. People say your pet take your problems over them. I don’t know how much of it is true, but I did experience it,” he shares, adding that seeing Murphey sick brings his life to “a complete halt”.
Dhanjani shares that Murphey is very scared of other animals but is a human friendly dog. He says, “He is so vulnerable with humans that we have to remind him it’s his job to protect us and not go out with any human that comes home.” He recalled that once Murphey walked out with a laundry guy and was missing for a while. “When my mom woke up and didn’t find Murphey at home, we started looking. Me and my sister rushed back home to search for Murphey and then we found him chilling in the refuge area,” he reveals.
A proud pet parent, Dhanjani laments the lack of animal cruelty laws in India. “It breaks my heart to see people doing animal cruelty can get out on bail for mere small amounts. There has to be an association formed in the government for animals. Humans and animals are supposed to coexist, and for that, we need to give protection to every living being, be it animals or trees. We need stricter laws against animal cruelty,” he ends.