Hayden Panettiere’s dog sitter ‘gave away’ pets

Hayden Panettiere claims her dog sitter gave her pets away.

The ‘Nashville’ actress – who has 20-month-old daughter Kaya with her fiancé Wladamir Klitschko – has hit back at Tia Brooks, who filed a lawsuit against the 26-year-old star seeking over $8,500 for unpaid services.

A letter from Hayden’s lawyer, Marty Singer, has now accused Tia of getting rid of rescue pooches Zander, a Rottweiler/Labrador mix and Xena, a Pit Bull/Labrador mix, but continuing to charge for her services.

The former ‘Heroes’ star rescued the dogs and arranged to pay Tia $30 a day until she could find a permanent home for the animals, but her lawyer claims the pet sitter put an advert on Craigslist last month, found a new owner for the canines but continued billing her famous client.

However, Tia disputes the claims and insists her bills were all legitimate.

According to TMZ, the pet sitter has charged Hayden a staggering $119,335.88 for caring for the two dogs for six years, with the lawyer alleging she tacked on extras including dog bones, bug spray, tick control, and dog beds.

But Tia told the website a large chunk of the money was to cover vet feeds after one of the pets got sick.

In May, Hayden returned to rehab to seek help for post-partum depression, after first being treated for the condition when Kaya was 10 months old.

The talented actress was initially sceptical about revealing her battle with the illness – a type of clinical depression some parents experience after having a baby – the first time around because she didn’t think people would accept her.

But Hayden was pleasantly surprised by the outpouring of support she received once she confessed.

She previously said: "I was always so terrified that people weren’t going to accept me.

"I finally just went, ‘I’m tired of living afraid. I’m tired of living in fear of what people are going to think, so you know, I’m just going to put it all out there on the table and I’m not going to worry about the judgment.’

"The more open I was, the more acceptance I got from people. I got so much support and so much love. I was floored. I feel much more exposed, yes, but in a great way."