As fun as it is to watch them grow, most cat lovers still occasionally long for the days when their kitty could fit in the palm of their hand.

Japanese stone artist Akie Nakata (@akie2525) may have just crafted the next best thing. Applying their impressive and detailed stone art talents to small pebble. The result is an incredibly realistic looking feline creation that seems like it may purr at any moment!

Sitting neatly with its fluffy tail curled up and its blue eyes shining, it looks exactly like a cat.

The fine, delicately drawn body hair (Nakata paints with a brush) and whiskers make you forget that the cat is painted on a hard stone. The beautifully crafted stone cat even seems to be titling its head and looking up at you!

You can follow Nakata on Twitter for even more amazing stone animals, as well as check out a book of her works available from Amazon.