WhenCarrie Ann Inabaadopted her rescue cat Mimi five years ago, she discovered quickly one of Mimi’s many star qualities — a unique, nasal-y and very loud purr.“We call her Mimi Vader,” theDancing with the Starsjudge tells PEOPLE of her 15-year-old formerly feral cat’s special sound effect, and that her cat’s sonorous purr shares some similarities withStar Warsvillain Darth Vader. “She sounds like a little Mimi Vader because she has a little bit of a sinus infection and she’s got special needs.”The Talkcohost, 51, says Mimi has come a long way from her humble beginnings as a feral cat.“I got her from L.A.’s Heaven on Earth Society for Animals, and if you can see this little ear, that means she used to be a feral cat and she used to live wild in a colony,” explains Inaba. “Mimi was later rescued from the street because her face had been kicked in.”For more on Carrie Ann Inaba and her cat Mimi, pick up The Beautiful Issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday.Inaba says life with Mimi is great because not only is she “one of the most friendly cats in the world,” according to the star, but Mimi has become a cat ambassador of sorts.“I have a lot of friends who are a little bit afraid of cats,” she says. “It happens. Mimi is sort of the ambassador, because she greets everybody at the door with the dogs, I have three rescue dogs as well, and she makes everybody feel like they can handle being around a cat. So a lot of people who have been afraid of cats are no longer afraid of cats, and let Mimi sit in their lap now. So, she’s wonderful.”Mimi is also an ambassador for black cats, because of the negative stigma sometimes associated with them.“I feel so lucky that I got to adopt her,” says Inaba. “A lot of people are afraid of black cats because they’ve heard stories and folk lore, but really black cats are quite wonderful and more of them need to be adopted.”

WhenCarrie Ann Inabaadopted her rescue cat Mimi five years ago, she discovered quickly one of Mimi’s many star qualities — a unique, nasal-y and very loud purr.

“We call her Mimi Vader,” theDancing with the Starsjudge tells PEOPLE of her 15-year-old formerly feral cat’s special sound effect, and that her cat’s sonorous purr shares some similarities withStar Warsvillain Darth Vader. “She sounds like a little Mimi Vader because she has a little bit of a sinus infection and she’s got special needs.”

The Talkcohost, 51, says Mimi has come a long way from her humble beginnings as a feral cat.

“I got her from L.A.’s Heaven on Earth Society for Animals, and if you can see this little ear, that means she used to be a feral cat and she used to live wild in a colony,” explains Inaba. “Mimi was later rescued from the street because her face had been kicked in.”

For more on Carrie Ann Inaba and her cat Mimi, pick up The Beautiful Issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday.

Inaba says life with Mimi is great because not only is she “one of the most friendly cats in the world,” according to the star, but Mimi has become a cat ambassador of sorts.

“I have a lot of friends who are a little bit afraid of cats,” she says. “It happens. Mimi is sort of the ambassador, because she greets everybody at the door with the dogs, I have three rescue dogs as well, and she makes everybody feel like they can handle being around a cat. So a lot of people who have been afraid of cats are no longer afraid of cats, and let Mimi sit in their lap now. So, she’s wonderful.”

Mimi is also an ambassador for black cats, because of the negative stigma sometimes associated with them.

“I feel so lucky that I got to adopt her,” says Inaba. “A lot of people are afraid of black cats because they’ve heard stories and folk lore, but really black cats are quite wonderful and more of them need to be adopted.”

source: people.com