The Interloper

For a while now, there has been a black and white tom cat who comes visiting almost every day. He comes in, eats all the food, sprays in the house, sprays in the garden and runs away from me. I have no idea where he lives, nor to whom he belongs, and the few neighbours I've asked don't know either.

He is a little larger than Greebo, but not as fat, and Greebo won't fight him. That might be a good thing, considering the fights with the interloping black and white tomcat we had back on the farm were the major cause of vets' bills a few years ago. It also tells me that Greebo doesn't yet feel secure in this place as his new territory. I've seen a couple of stand-offs in the garden, where Greebo has ended up walking around the 'interloper'. The tom calls (and 'talks' to my two cats with a variety of meeps, prrps and miaows). I've seen him and Greebo touch noses, and I was sitting in the lounge one evening when I heard a conversation and saw Xena preparing to walk the tomcat upstairs, the little hussy! I managed to get a picture from the bedroom window of them all lying on the path. The tom is giving out 'I'm not a threat, look, totally relaxed!' while my two seem less convinced.

Since then, I've been out in the garden to find all three of them lying separately in the long grass, spaced out like points of a triangle about three metres apart. As I stooped to stroke Greebo, the tom cat got up and went off through the fence. Definitely a cat who doesn't like or trust people!
I've tried being nice, and tried chasing him off, but the only difference it makes is the speed at which he disappears. I went out to call my two the other week, only to find his face appearing around the corner of my side passage/extension roof from his perch on my next-door neighbour's adjoining side passage roof. Still keeping a safe distance, but alert to the possibility of more food. I've tried a variety of names on him, but none make him react in any way.

A nuisance? Me?

His poor face looks a bit bashed up, with one eye darker than the other and half-closed. Otherwise he looks in fine fettle. (I should think so too - I wonder who else's food he nicks?)

I'd like to think he leads an idyllic tom cat lifestyle, with a loving family whom he visits every few weeks for a spot of luxury, in between tours of his territory, where he comes and goes and does as he pleases.

I love cats, but he is a mystery and a nuisance! Which reminds me - I need to go out and buy more cat food.