Sometimes everyone needs a cuddle and some tender loving care and what better pick me up than a cup of tea and a hug with a pet?

But if you don’t have a furry friend, a cafe in Gravesend is hoping to leave cat lovers purring with delight.

Jennifer Kristiansen, 25, and Nora Camann, 34, want to open Kent’s first cat cafe. BaristaCats will be a place where people can lap up Fair Trade tea and coffee, and make a feline friend.

The cafe will have five cats and a rabbit for people to pet while they tuck into their cakes.

The partners hope to open their business in High Street, Gravesend, just a few doors up from where Ms Kristiansen lives.

She is a cat lover herself and decided to open the petting paradise after becoming sick of her job in data entry.

She said: “I had been getting bored of work because I was doing things that I wasn’t educated to do and my friend came up with the idea of going into business.

“I thought she was kidding and said jokingly ‘hey, why not a cat cafe, those can’t possibly fail?’ and she said ‘yes, let’s do it, I mean it!’

“So we started talking more about it and decided that if we were going to try to open a business, now would be the perfect time.”

The pair are hoping to raise £35,000 via a KickStarter campaign to get the capital together to open their doors. So far they have raised £625, and have until April 1 to reach their target.

Ms Kristiansen, a Denmark native, said: “I have two cats myself, but they won’t be in the cafe because they haven’t been socialising with other cats before.

“We’re planning on getting cats from local shelters, cats that have already socialised with others and ones that have not been homed because they are no longer kittens.”

To allay health and safety fears, customers will be encouraged to use hand sanitisers, and food and drink preparation areas will be separate from cat communes.

And there will be strict rules to keep the moggies happy.

Ms Kristiansen said: “You won’t be allowed to chase them or pick them up if they don’t want it. There will also be a place for them to go away from the cafe.

“If you have a full time job and have a cat, it would be alone during the day so it’s not like they’ll be alone any more than they usually would.”

You can donate to BaristaCats here.

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