(Sorry, another long post.)

This is a ridiculous problem but one I've never experienced before.  We
live in the kind of neighborhood where almost everyone who has cats
lets them out...a lot.  Then we seem to also have a large stray and/or
feral population.  Through the years I've had some neutered and others
not but we always have food out so, with the strays and the 'hood cats,
we have a lot of cat traffic.

About 6 months ago, a long-haired brownish, grayish, whitish sort of
tabby showed up but he was distinctly unfriendly.  He came and went as
he pleased, usually showing up in the evening for dinner.  He had no
interest in being petted or bonding with us.  Plenty of others have
also been here during that time.  In late March, he started showing up
with a young gray tabby, very cute, friendly, and female.  She wanted
to be our friend, wanted constant attention, wanted to come inside.
But we have Marbles the aggressive cat who is already separated from
our other 2, Scottie the sporadic sprayer, and sweet little Abbey so
bringing her in was out of the question.  But I was horrified having a
girl kitty around during kitty mating season.  She looked to be about
10 months or so old, prime age for getting in the family way.  The boy
cat seemed to take care of her, I assumed they were mating.  Anyway,
much calling around and begging and promising of a decent donation,
finally  on 4/9 got the little girl kitty into the rescue group we got
Marbles from, HALO, who does most of the Petsmart adoptions in the
Phoenix area.  I was very relieved to have her off the streets.
Meanwhile, I felt sorry for her buddy but he adapted and continued to
hang around and come and go as he pleased.  Of course, he got plenty to
eat here.  We call him "Twin" because he looks like another cat that
used to come here to eat.

About 2 weeks ago, on a weekend, I went out and, all of a sudden, he
was Mr. Friendly.  Wanted to be petted, brushed, everything, after
never wanting to be touched.  I was then able to discern that he is a
neutered male, which is good.  His fur is scruffy from neglect so I got
him his own brush and we've been brushing him a little everyday.  He's
looking pretty good although he has some notches out of both his ears
and his white fur is still grubby.  He's cute, chubby, but I don't
think HALO would probably take him at this time since I'm sure they're
swamped with kittens.  All the other rescue and no-kill groups always
say no whenever I call them.

So...it would be fine with us if he just stayed our outdoor cat.  We
have a low car traffic neighborhood and, like I said, there are tons of
other cats around.  A cat down the street with a home, Pretty, loves to
come and harrass Twin, which is annoying but tolearble, I guess.  Twin
is very mellow and doesn't fight back.  Hence, the tattered ears, I
guess.

What isn't tolerable is that Twin never, ever leaves my carport.  He
waits for me, morning, noon, and night.  I don't think he even ventures
out into the yard unless I go into the yard.  He's like a dog.  Kinda
cute, one might think, but he is kind of odd and seems to have a little
mean streak.  When I pet him, all is well, but when I stop to go in the
house, his tail starts swishing, his ears go back a little, he fixates
on my legs and feet, and reaches out and grabs me and attempts to claw
or bite me.  I'm not amused.  I have scratches all over my legs; I have
to think twice about going outside now, and put long pants on if I
don't want to be clawed and remember to not go out with stockings on.
Its a major PITA and, to be honest, I'm a little afraid of him.  I
don't enjoy being attacked.  The other night, we were going to go for
our walk, which is a 1.5 mile route, and he followed us.  He would not
go back so I had to go back because I didn't really want him following
us a mile or so and then getting lost.  I would have felt bad for him.

This cat is obsessed with me and I don't like it.  I have to make sure
I have a broom with me when I go out so I can get it between him and me
when he starts to attack or to shoo him aside with it.  I feel like a
prisoner in here.

To compound things, I had gotten in the habit of taking Marbles outside
in his walking jacket on weekends and we had a nice little routine
going.  He enjoyed it and so did I.  Now if I take him out, Twin
follows us, torments Marbles, Marbles gets vocal and aggressive.  I
don't want them to have direct contact in case Twin has FIV or FeLV or
something and I sure don't want them to fight.

What can I do to get this cat to cool it?  He's welcome to eat here and
hang out here and we don't mind brushing him and petting him some but
he tries to get in when I open the door and, just in general, is making
life unpleasant for the inside residents.  I know the ideal thing is to
get him his own home but we all know how hard that can be and this is
an older, somewhat scruffy, antagonistic cat and this is the time of
year when baby kitties are abundant.  No one will take him, not now
anyway, and never if he's gonna attack them.  I seriously don't know
what to do about him.  How can I get him to quit attacking me and
following me incessantly?

Candace