Toddler v. the cat (a battle of wills)

[hornbag]

Ds (17 m) loves our cat to bits, you see his eyes light up when he spots her. Trouble is he starts off gently stroking her but then goes on to pulling her tail or generally being rough.
The cat is very placid and does happily put up with a lot quite. When shes had enough she tends to do that "batting"-type thing (with claws in so not sratching)as a warning which of course DS ignores and finds funny.
It then escalates until the cat does scratch him (not majorly just surface scratches -DS doen't even cry but does come over to you complaining about it).
I've tried telling DS (and the cat ) not to do it, tried removing each of them from the situation etc. Trouble is cat is as stubborn as a toddler and refuses to move out of reach, firmly standing her ground on the sofa.

Please, How do we live in harmony...?

They grow out of it - honest
We have had this with DD1 and are going through it with DD2 (2yrs). DD1 got the message at around the time she started playgroup - nearly 3. I think DD2 will grow out of it sooner though as she is just starting to be more wary and able to think ahead a little, definitely a bit more gentle now.
If the cat was really hurtingthe child then would be worth trying to separate them as cat scratches can be very nasty/get infected. We did utilise our stairgate to separate them at one point! Of course, cat can get around it but at least it meant cat could get away if she wanted without being forced outside on cold days..
Not much help though if your puss is standing her ground!

Thanks XP, good to know it will end at some point -DD never had run-ins with the cat so never had this before.
Cat not only stands ground but is also of the lazy variety and actually waits for you to open the stairgate rather than jump over it! And you have to put her outside.

lol.have the same trouble with my youngest 2 and our cat. dd is3 and ds is 17 months.
the cat will stand so much but has now started sleeping upstairs wen kids are up and as soon as they go to bed she comes down and sits with us.
smart cat !!!!