ROBERT PATTINSON's adopted dog Bear was just days from death when the actor rescued him from an animal shelter in Louisiana.

The Twilight star admits his decision to take the dog home was so impulsive he had to feed him prosciutto in his hotel room after agreeing to give the pooch a home.

He tells U.S. chat show host Ellen DeGeneres, "He was, like, five weeks old and he was in a five-day kill shelter... on his fourth day.

"A couple of days a later, just by coincidence, I had to go back to L.A... and we had like a private plane. So I took him from the worst pound in Monroe, Louisiana and he was sitting on a little private jet the next day.

"We were staying at the Four Seasons after (that) and I didn't have any dog food, so I got him a plate of prosciutto."