Katherine Heigl inaugurates Shopify store for animal welfare

 Katherine Heigl has recently initiated Shopify Store for the love of animals.

In a new interview with PEOPLE, the Grey's Anatomy star revealed that the love for pets including dogs and cats runs in her family.

“Somebody asked me recently, ‘Were you the kid that always came home with the stray animal?’ I said, ‘No, my mom was’,” said the 44-year-old.

The Emmy-winning actress continued, “She instilled that in us, this compassion and love for these creatures.”

Explaining how she came up with this business idea, the 27 Dresses actress stated, “We just didn't know what was going on. We were pet lovers, always had dogs and cats, but didn't know that so many of their kind were suffering.”

“That's when this real kind of push to make a difference began,” confessed the Firefly Lane actress.

Katherine mentioned that her Artware Shopify store has a variety of self-designed pet-themed hoodies, T-shirts, tote bags and mugs.

“I thought, ‘You know what? If there's something I can do to incentivize people to financially participate, then I'm going to do that’,” remarked the actress

Katherine divulged her future plans as she “hopes to expand it out towards more home goods”.

“I'll have more designs coming out soon, but that's the 10-year goal,” she added.