Man spends over a year getting stray cat to trust him
Lex never considered himself a “cat person.”
But that changed over a year ago when a stray cat decided to visit his yard on a regular basis.
The home’s previous owner told Lex that stray cats were common in the neighborhood (and judging by the cat’s ear, it’s been marked as a feral cat belonging to a known colony).
While Lex was content to just let the cat be, one day when the cat came onto his deck he noticed that it looked quite thin. This disturbed him and he felt obligated to help the hungry feline.
Of course, feral cats are often less than excited about humans – and in this case, the cat was downright petrified.
“He was absolutely terrified of me. I would leave out a can of tuna right on my deck because he looked hungry. He was still super afraid,” Lex said in an interview with The Dodo.
But a scared cat will still eat, so Lex just made sure there was food and water on the deck for the cat whenever he needed it. (Oddly enough, it doesn’t seem that any other local cats were drawn to it – this cat managed to keep his great find a secret!)
The sweet ginger kitty happily indulged in the food left outdoors for him and – while he didn’t look excited about it – he would even let Lex sit on the other side of the door while he ate.
Even though the cat didn’t want much to do with him, Lex then began to worry not only about feeding him but keeping him warm at night as well. That’s when he got the idea to build a cat house!
Using old blankets for the insulation, Lex managed to build something the cat was happy to use. That’s when things changed between them.
The cat looked right at Lex, then closed his eyes and went to sleep.
“I remember looking out the glass and seeing him in his house. He was looking at me. He just kind of put his head down and just started sleeping. When he slept in the house, I thought of it as a pivotal moment. As being part of the family,” he said.
By now, Lex was calling the cat Cinnabon and one day, the finicky feline decided he wanted to come in the house. So Cinnabon meowed at the back door while sitting in the snow.
But we all know that cats aren’t quite so easy.
Cinnabon wanted to come in, but wasn’t going to waltz into a new place like it was no big deal. So Lex bribed him with treats.
“I kept the slider glass open and I’m throwing treats at him…and he would eat them. He got close enough to me. It kind of went really fast. From him not being able to be petted to him being petted and them coming in the house was a pretty quick process once we reached that milestone,” Lex recalled.
Now Lex and Cinnabon are thick as thieves.
It took some getting used to and keeping the previously feral cat indoors for a while so he could acclimate to his surroundings, but pretty soon they had a deal. Cinnabon agreed to take Lex on as his human.
Later, when the cat was allowed back outside, he would happily roam, but still come back to his new home.
Thanks to Lex’s persistence, Cinnabon now has a loving human and a forever home.
And in case it wasn’t obvious, Lex is now a cat person.
To see Lex’s full interview with The Dodo, scroll down below to see the video.
To follow Cinnabon’s adventures, check out his Instagram page.
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.