Our cat has made friends with a kitten!!

Question
About a week ago our 5yr old spayed male cat began to play with a male kitten that appeared on our verandah out of the blue! We've never seen our cat befriend another, especially on his territory!! Our cat invites the kitten into the house and happily instigates play between them. He appears to be quite protective of it as he will sit outside 'on watch' and has even stood between it and another local cat that tried to approach the kitten. The thing is, the kitten only appears each night and is nowhere to be seen during the day so we don't know if it is homeless which is why we haven't taken it to the vet yet to get checked out! The kitten is approx 4-6 months old and if I felt what I think i felt then he has not been spayed!! I also think that some of his wrestling play with my arm has been an attempt to hump it!(is that the right word when referring to cats or is it only used in reference to dogs???) The other strange thing is that the kitten is very much like our cat - both long haired, our cat is black the kitten is grey and black and they are very similar in their behaviour. They are both quite vocal, very affectionate and love to be with us, follow us around the house etc. If we didn't know better we would say that the kitten is our cats love child!! Is it at all possible that our cats little operation didn't work properly?? Also what would you suggest we do in regards to the kitten? If it is homeless we would love to take it in but don't want to keep it here if it does have a home to go to. It just seems odd that someone would let a kitten that young out at night time only. We are also concerned that if it continues to visit and isn't spayed that it will start spraying in and around our house. We'd appreciate your thoughts on what to do and why our cat might have befriended it. Lastly, we noticed today that our cat has a weepy left eye that he appears to be squinting closed. I have read lots about what it could be and will be seeing the vet about it, but it makes me wonder what it could be and also what else we should look out for with our cat considering he has been in such close contact with the random kitten? Looking forward to your reply and any advice or thoughts you might have!! Thankyou!!

Answer
Tara,

It sounds to me like your little man has decided to take this little guy under his wing (I'm not sure you'll find any concrete explanation for why he likes this kitten)- I'm not sure if the kitten's homeless, but it's certainly worth asking around to see if anyone knows this cat or what his particular circumstances are. If this little guy isn't neutered he's at the right age to "hump" other cats, human arms, feet, etc. Your best response should be a deliberate and unceremonious plop on the floor for the little Romeo and simply ignore him for a few minutes - you don't want this behavior becoming a habit! In the event that your cat's new friend is homeless or unwanted then you'll need to decide if/when you plan to get him neutered (please do, there are too many unwanted pets in this world who are euthanized simply because there aren't enough good homes to go around). As for the possibility that this little guy will spray there's always that risk with an intact cat that has reached sexual maturity.

Unless your cat was given a vasectomy I can't see how he'd have produced the kitten, but if you want to be absolutely certain I'd recommend asking another vet for a second opinion as to whether this little man's family jewels were entirely removed (sometimes a testicle can be undescended making it difficult to get to and some vets will leave them in place, but they normally pass this information along to the cat's caregiver). As for the weepy eye the fact that your kitty goes outside and mingles with other cats means that he's at risk of catching viral and bacterial infections from the cats he comes into contact with. I'd recommend having the vet take a look ASAP, it's likely something minor like a herpes virus, chlamydia (not quite the same in cats) conjunctivitis or similar infection - if the herpes virus is responsible then your little guy will most likely develop symptoms every so often. If you have any further questions, concerns or you'd like me to clarify anything in this answer, please feel free to contact me again and I'll do my best to help you out.