The Kawaii Kitty Cafe Indiegogo Has Raised Over $5,000 in One Day

In case you were unsure if cat cafe mania is a real affliction, consider this: Just one day into its crowdfunding appeal on Indiegogo, upcoming cat cafe Kawaii Kitty Cafe has already inspired people to open their wallets to the tune of $5,235. That puts it 26% of the way toward its $20,000 goal, with 40 days still left in the campaign.

Oddly, the early success is not attributable to the fact that one of the perks available is "Cat Poop on Your Ex's Name," i.e. the chance to have one of your ex-significant other's names scrawled inside a litter box for the low, low price of $15. At time of press, not one person has claimed this funding option. Instead, the most popular item so far is a t-shirt. Who knows why people do what they do? You can also spring for early access or VIP status, a cat yoga class (it's regular yoga, but among cats, to answer your question), or to have your own cat's photo displayed on the wall or in a book at the cafe. And if you're really loaded, you can nab the naming rights to the cat lounge for $10,000.

Other items of note from the Indiegogo page: Owner Kristin Eissler and team are still looking for a location, and the scope of the search continues to shift and expand. In addition to some neighborhoods already name-dropped as possibilities (Northern Liberties, Fairmount, Graduate Hospital), Washington Square West is now listed as a stop on their hunt.

Although there's no space named yet, the early plan is to open the cafe six days a week, and there will be a reservation system in place to control the number of people in with the cats at any given time. ($5 gets you a half an hour with the cats.) In addition to selling La Colombe coffee, tea, bubble tea, and light food options, the cafe will allow you to BYOB, if your idea of a good time is to combine cats and wine.

Kawaii Kitty Cafe from Keasbey Mattison on Vimeo.