A TikToker who has spent 9 months protecting a stray cat from freezing temperatures and a territorial raccoon finally earned the feline's trust

• A TikToker who found a cat in his backyard documented his evolving relationship with the stray.
• Kyle Parnell posted videos of himself caring for the cat from a distance, like making him a winter home.

TikToker Kyle Parnell's quest to earn the trust of a stray cat has gone viral. And after nine months of taking care of the stray from a distance, his most recent video in May, which had 1.7 million views as of Thursday, shows the cat stepping inside his home.

Parnell first posted about the cat in April. The video, which has racked up more than 8 million views, details Parnell's history with the cat, which began in August 2022 when he moved into a new home.

"When we moved into our new place, the backyard was only dirt, dead grass, and this cat," he says in the video. "He was around for weeks … sometimes disappearing for a few days, but always showing up just when you thought he wasn't going to come back."

As winter approached, Parnell was concerned about how the cat would adjust to the weather, as he would not go inside the house, he said in the video.

So Parnell emptied two storage bins from his basement and put them on top of each other to make a little house. After putting a fluffy blanket inside, Parnell put the house outside.

"He claimed it immediately like he knew it was meant for him," Parnell said in the video. "The storage bins from the basement had been marked 'Allison's Keepsakes,' and we decided 'Keepsake' was a fine enough name for a cat."

When spring came around, a raccoon threatened Keepsake, according to the video.

"There was an unavoidable showdown, first between the cat and the raccoon, and then between the raccoon and me," the video says over a shot of Parnell poking the creature with a stick.

Parnell has also been feeding Keepsake and giving him catnip since finding him, according to the video.

After nine months of distanced care, the most recent video posted on May 13 shows the hard work paid off, as Keepsake finally accepted Parnell's pets and invitation to come inside the house.