On Friday (March 24) the Cochrane and Area Humane Society received a large chunk of money from the Cat House.

The Cat House was a long running Calgary business and the largest cat specialty store in all of Canada. Unfortunately after a devastating fire back on November 12, 2015 the Cat House was completely destroyed, leaving the owner and management in a lurch.

A Go Fund Me Account was created by manager Candace Schneider in hopes to rebuild the Cat House store front but after exploring a variety of options Joanne Wegiel, co owner, says they made the difficult decision to close the retail portion for good.

"We visited over 30 locations and we tried and tried; it was a long slow realization that it was just the best thing to not start it up again, but it was a very painful slow realization."

The generosity shown by Calgary and area residents was evident by the incredibly fast growing donations flooding the Go Fund Me page. While the money was going to be used toward the rebuild when the decision was made to not reopen, the ladies contacted donors and decided to donate the funds instead.

The Cat House was able to donate over $25,000. Monies from the Go Fund Me were split between the MEOW Foundation and the Cochrane and Area Humane Society, with proceeds from the sale of t-shirts, toques, and totes going toward MEOW, Cochrane Humane, Alberta Animal Rescue Crew, Arts Senior Animal Rescue, Whisker Cat Rescue, as well as animals affected by the Fort McMurray fire.

The Cochrane Humane Society received a donation of $11,671.60 and holds a special place in Wegiel's heart as her shop cats came from the local shelter.

Wegiel is hoping the large donation will go towards improving the two feline rooms at the Humane and making life all around better for cats.

Although the Cat House closed their storefront they still operate an online business, and you can find it here.