8 month old kitten is fairly big for his age and very confident. Has been going out since 6 months. We have a Ginger tom that has been visiting our garden since before we had kitten, used to be quite meek but DD and I fed him a few times and he was then very affectionate. Used to wonder if he was a stray but he had a collar (albeit very old) and didn't seem malnourished.
Since we have had kitten and he's been going out the ginger has been coming to the garden more regularly. I have caught him spraying in places a few times and have chased him off. Whenever he comes and our cat is nowhere to be seen he always seems desperate for affection. He meaows really sadly and seems like he really wants to come to us. DD always wants to stroke him but I have always held off as I didn't feel like it was right when our cat was young and might be confused.
Anyway this evening I was watering the plants and our cat was nowhere to be seen and ginger was in the garden, meaowing at me in his sad "please love me way". I relented and stroked him for a bit and he was going nuts, rubbing himself and weaving all around my legs. At one point I sat down on a chair and he tried to get to the back of me and rub his head on me. I read somewhere that cats rub themselves on you as they have scent glands so they are marking you with their scent. So I didn't let him do this.
So after this our cat comes in and is eating and all of a sudden Ginger is at the back door and looks like he is ready to come in. Ginger cat has never tried to do this before so can only assume is because of earlier petting from me. Our cat spits and hisses but then he retreats! I chased the ginger off. But it then happened again! I was kinda hoping that our cat might be able to hold his own against the ginger, if not in the garden then at least if he attempted to come in to the house, but it seems that he might be a bit of a wuss...
What do I do? Do I let him fight his own battles and sort it out himself? I certainly won't be stroking ginger again as it deffo seems that he wants me to be his territory. Do I need to help my kitten or is this kind of thing a cat "rite of passage"?
Sorry so long over something so trivial.