Territorial unneutered tom.

[smudgley]

It sounds to me as like classic behaviour, when Sweep first came into your house he didn't know what was what, who was who or where the boundaries were. then he comes in, starts eating the food, feels comfortable about it, starts feeling his feet, then suddenly - BINGO- he's got his feet under the table, he knows what's what & then he starts acting like a dominant Tom cat & trying to establish who's boss out of him & Ninja. I agree with fran - I'd get him neutered & see what happens, but I think a lot depends on his age - a wise old Tom may not change his ways even after neutering. But hopefully he will.
At work we place young dogs (12 months old) with new families, we see the same pattern each time. New home, new people, not sure what's what, who's in charge, so it's "best behaviour" for 2 weeks, then they get comfy realise it's ok in the new home & try & see what they can get away with - sometimes pushing the boundaries as far as they can! I know we shouldn't compare dogs/cats but it's very similar behaviour.

[Hreow]

Originally Posted by Snoof

Oh sure, and then they'll nick my bank card and buy scratching posts on ebay together, using Sweep's superior muscle power to "convince" the postman to deliver it to the catflap

**And** entice those shy females in for a night of unlimited fish and cream! They'll take over the PC for naps and hamster-sudoku as well, mark my words...

I can't do anything for Sweep logdgings-wise, but do let me know if a donation towards the neutering, food, extra toys etc. would be useful. Not implying that you can't take care of him yourself, of course.

[dinahsmum]

Nothing to add to any of the foregoing, so will just say 'Good luck'

[yola]

I'd just like to add that my originally un-neutered stray Tom (Ferdy), was king of all he surveyed. He really was quite a belligerent and bossy old ratbag. However, once neutered he turned into the proverbial pussy cat and would try and play with the persians. He never got above his station (Balie, was, is and always will be alpha cat), but occasionally tried to 'push the envelope' to see if he could gt anywhere.

What I'm saying is that, post-neutering, he changed almost overnight from a bruiser into a gentle, domesticated cuddle-bug who slotted into his place within the cat heirarchy quite happily.

[Snoof]

Thank you all for your experience and expertise. Smudgley, that's what I figured as well. Instinct-wise, that's probably a pretty good one (if your driving force in life is to make sure your genetic material survives).

Hreow - thank you for offering, it's very kind of you But we're all right, and since all Sweep touches is dry food he really isn't that expensive. I don't know why he won't eat the wet, but he really doesn't want it Ninja eats both, but definitely more wet food, so they balance each other out pretty well.

Thanks DM and Yola - and Yola, your story encourages me somewhat. I will sit Matt down and discuss what the best course of action is, as I suspect he'd like to give Sweep a chance in our house if we can. There again, he was impressed and amused by Ninja's scheme to keep Sweep out by swiping at him every time he sticks his nose in and does understand that Ninja's emotional well-being has to come first - before giving Sweep a home in our house, at least. I'll bring up the possibility of finding him a home ourselves and see how he feels about it.

He would never admit it, but I think he might be even more of a stray-taker-inner than I am, when it comes to cats Problem is, he just wants to take them in and doesn't really worry about how it affects things until it's all pointed out to him, so I'll have to do that.

Nevertheless, I think the support I gave Ninja helped him realise that I am his human and this is his house, and he's perfectly in the right both in being here and in defending it - because I really can't and won't fault him for doing either. It shows the remarkable progress he's making that my support of him led him to be braver and to take possession of what's rightfully his, and I love him even more for it. I hope he realises that neither of those things will ever change - the reason we want to get kittens is because then he can teach them it's his terrain and he's the boss without too much protest from them (and as we will be getting them altered well before sexual maturity it should remain no problem).

Thank you all again for the kind words and the help - don't know what I would've done if all this had happened and I didn't have this forum to ask Now I do wish it were Saturday so we could put the catflap in and pin it up (was it Kazz or Kay who told me how to do that with clothespegs? I can't remember, but I'm still grateful!) so Ninja can get used to it before we put it down (not sure he's ever used one before as our rescue isn't as posh as Smudgley Towers and doesn't have outside runs for cats at the moment - they're building a new cattery, however). Then we'll be trapping Sweep and scheduling him in for a neutering, and we'll take it from there.

[Donna]

Hope things go to plan. Keep us updated!

[Snoof]

Quick update before I run out the door for an extraordinarily (for me) early morning.

I got out of the bathroom just as Ninja was coming downstairs from his nightly rampage upstairs on the top floor, this morning, so we descended the stairs together. Sweep was lying on a swivel chair just inside Matt's study, looking very comfortably up at me, and I scratched him before going on to pet Ninja.

Sweep followed us into the kitchen, and then Ninja twined around my legs and feet (properly, for the first time - he's rubbed against them before while I was standing up but never spun that tight web of circles and meowing around them like a lot of hungry cats will do ) while Sweep sat on the doorstep to the conservatory (which they eat in) voicing his loud, hard meows every once in a while when he thought I was flagging

I put some food up on the ledge first, just because Sweep likes to eat there and I thought he could eat up there and Ninja could eat on the floor (and he's so cute when he prepares to jump up onto the ledge, assuming Sidney-esque positions while he calculates his leap) as they've had at least two rows about food.

I moved onto the bowls on the floor (dry food needed topping up as well as wet food doling out) and Sweep jumped down and started eating the dry food as I squeezed out the pouch of wet food, while Ninja rubbed gently against my bum

Then they ate companionably side by side until Sweep heard something outside that needed killing!

They've not had any trouble since the last time I posted, and while Ninja was very cautious around Sweep and Sweep stole all the wet food when he could (but Ninja comes and gets me when he's not had any wet food, so he got to eat on his own), but then they just kind of stopped. They seem to've accepted each other, now.

This means when we get Sweep neutered, we may just put him in the bathroom until he's feeling better (all my past cats have felt pretty bad from the anaesthetic, but I think they were let go by the vet sooner than they are here, since nobody seems to have that issue here) and just let him out in the house again. I think they just needed to hammer out a hierarchy as housecats, but I'm going to keep watching them and make sure they're certain about how well they get along. I think if they're doing ok now, it may be easier on them if Sweep doesn't have to be reintroduced later, if that makes sense.

They make quite a sight together, but they're back to the behaviour they exhibited toward each other when Ninja first brought Sweep home, and if they continue I think it's all going to be fine.

Either way, it was a very precious moment. Just me, being tagteamed by two "very, very hungry cats" and them twining around each other to make sure I saw them as a coalition of starving felines

[Fran]

I'm so pleased that it is working out Snoof!! Incidently, regarding the anaesthetic. Our vets now offer a newer, safer type of anaesthetic which doesn't seem to affect the cats so much, they come round much quicker and it's almost as if they haven't had an anaesthetic at all! Our vets do charge quite a bit more money if you want them to use this type but I honestly think it is worth every penny. Might be worth asking you vet if they do anything similar?

[Hreow]

Granny - eggs - I know... but make sure you reintroduce Sweep slowly so that they don't have a spat again because he smells strangely from the vet's.

Those two will be the bane of your existance from now on, then. I'm **so** glad it was just a sorting-out-who's-boss squabble.
With your ability to see ahead and plan for eventualities, it's easy to see why you have a household of (mostly) happy cats.

[Sweet]

Fingers and paws crossed here everything will turn out fine x