The United States could get its very first cat café if the Internet can scratch up some cash.

San Franciscans David Braginsky and Courtney Hatt hope to open KitTea, America's first cat café, which will allow visitors to "sit back, take a deep breath and relax with a cat on your lap and a kettle of tea steeping by your side." Recently, the pair started crowdfunding in hopes of raising enough money to make a cat meow.

"The big reason I wanted to do [crowdfunding] is that I wanted to have pre-sales and initially seed a demand for KitTea and to make it more of a community effort," Hatt told Treehugger.

As of today, KitTea has raised $40,083 from 647 backers through its online fundraising campaign. The campaign has 15 days left to reach its goal $50,000.

"We need your help to build a tea house oasis for cats and cat lovers," the crowdfunding page reads.

If the campaign succeeds, America will see its first cat café and join the likes of cities like Paris and Osaka.

"We want this to be a great place for humans, but really this is a space for cats," Hatt continued. "It's a cat oasis. It's a space where they can feel safe, and comfortable and socialize."

If KitTea does opens its doors, it will likely get its cats from cat rescue organizations Wonder Cat Rescue and Give Me Shelter.

"Rather than being in a shelter, which is where we're getting [our cats], they will be happy and less stressed," Hatt explained. "They'll be more adoptable in that respect. Often when you see a cat in shelter, it's really stressed out, and because it's frightened, it's going to come off aloof or mean or aggressive, when the cat may not be like that at all."

As soon as this summer, San Francisco residents might notice cats looking a lot more relaxed.

"We hope the cafe will be open sometime this summer, so August is a safe bet -- but construction could take longer!" KitTea said via Twitter.

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Follow Scharon Harding on Twitter: @SH____4.

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