ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — A growing trend in the pet world has landed on the First Coast -- a cat café.
It's a place where you can have coffee and pastries while playing with cats.
The Frisky Cat Café opened in St. Augustine Wednesday.
"Come over here and let them crawl on you," Owner Carla Forrest told her guests.
She brought the cat café concept to St. Augustine, after losing her banking job of 20 years last year.
"Cat cafés were kind of a thing," Forrest said. "I did some research on it."
The idea is that you place your order and then you can eat your coffee and sweets in the café in the front room. If you want, you can also take the goodies into the back room to chill with the cool cats.
"If you keep the two spaces separate, you keep the front separate from the back, then FDAC -- the Florida Department of Agriculture -- allows us to have both," Forrest said.
All the cats are rescue animals that are up for adoption.
Each visit with the cats is $10 and there are discounts available.
"We appreciate people coming in, just as much as adopting them because that helps us fund their medical care," Forrest said.
Currently, guests need an appointment to go hang out with the kitties.
"If I had 20 people in here, there might not be enough cats for people and the cats might be a little scared," Forrest said. "So I'm just trying to control the flow to about 10 people an hour."
The Frisky Cat Café was a hit on its first day. One visitor even drove from Lake City to visit the cats.
Forrest made the most out of losing her job last year by tapping into her passion for finding homes for cats.
"There's this expression," she said. "Do what you love and fit the rest into your life."
For Forrest and others, it seems this new venture may just be the cat's pajamas.