There are only five days left to make one pair's dream of New Zealand's first cat café a reality.
For some, mixing coffee and cats sounds like the ultimate catastrophe. But for friends of more than 10 years, Vicky Chapman and Mike Jones, it's the 'purrfect' mix.
The pair created a crowd-funded Kickstarter campaign in hopes of opening The Cat Lounge on Auckland's North Shore in September.
But Ms Chapman and Mr Jones still need to gain just over $1500 to reach their goal of $35,000 by August 1 in order to move ahead with the venture.
So far $33,405 of the $35,000 has been raised through more than 200 donations.
The self-confessed "crazy cat people" first heard of the idea through a friend who travelled to Japan years ago, where sharing a coffee with a kitty is a popular activity.
After recent media coverage of cat cafés in Australia, Ms Chapman and Mr Jones were inspired to start their own.
Mr Jones says the pair are still searching for a suitable site and have been looking through at least three to four places each week.
"But it's tough finding somewhere that has wheelchair access and enough parking for a café," he says.
The café will be split in two, with half of it dedicated to those looking for a normal coffee experience and the other half boasting a "cat lover's dream".
This half will include cat runways, toys, fluffy pillows, scratching posts and 10 to 15 felines, the owners say.
The kitchen and café area will remain a cat-free zone, but patrons will be free to take food and drink in and out of the cat room.
Mr Jones says he is 100 percent confident the $35,000 goal will be reached and they will be open by September.
Cat enthusiasts can check out the Kickstarter campaign here.
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