How Many Dogs Have Matt Damon & His Wife Rescued? Meet Their Adorable Fur Babies
Matt Damon became a household name after co-writing and starring in Oscar-winning movie "Good Will Hunting," in which he plays a genius but troubled Boston kid who struggles to open himself up to love. But, in reality, the "Dogma" star clearly has plenty of space in his heart for others. There is, of course, Matt Damon's famous bromance with Ben Affleck, which goes back to their childhoods. But the actor and his wife Luciana Damon also share four daughters, and if it doesn't sound like the family's Brooklyn home is full enough, they also have five rescue dogs. Ahead of Adopt-A-Pet Day on June 6, 2026, Matt spent a day with The Dodo at the Eastwood Ranch Foundation Animal Welfare & Rescue where he made friends with a little cutie named JoJo and a pretty pit-bull named Betsy.
Their heartwarming day was documented across a number of Instagram posts on the Dodo's official page, and, in one of them, Matt Damon spoke warmly about his own fur babies. "The oldest is Charlie, we call him Charles sometimes. Osita. Cookie, she's kind of like royalty. She's kind of like a princess. Rudy, we call him Rudesters. And then Scoutie," he gushed. The "Martian" star went on to explain that living in Brooklyn makes it kind of "tough to keep accruing these dogs, but we love them, and we do give them a great life." The "Elysium" star then admitted, "I wouldn't bet against us leaving with a dog today."
Matt Damon also saved a cat from the jungles of Costa Rica
Perhaps because of his own struggles in life, Matt Damon believes in solely getting dogs from rescue shelters. He is also clearly a dog person who will pick up pups wherever he can. The Damons adopted Osita while in Costa Rica, but that wasn't the only new family-member they picked up on that trip. As the Oscar winner explained on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," in 2024, there was a feral cat that "was living by himself in the jungle. He was the coolest cat. He was hunting, he had two giant holes in his side. He was fighting for his life every night." Matt and his family began to feed it but, as they prepared to return to the States, the family realized that the once-fierce warrior had come to rely on them. Worried that the jungle cat wouldn't last without their help, the Damons brought him back home with them.
As the "Saving Private Ryan" star joked, "I had a little yard in L.A., he'll be great out there. He never went outside ever again." Unfortunately, the cat, who Matt only referred to as "Jungle Cat," had a brain tumor. The actor brought the feline to a cat neurologist and they began to prepare for the pet's end of life when he suggested trying putting him on steroids instead. The cat not only lived for years after, but, as Matt hilariously detailed to Colbert, "Now he's jacked [...] He's got muscles on muscles." Sadly, their jungle cat passed away not long after that appearance.