Well, what a turn around.
Tufty has been in for 2 1/2 weeks now, and today, finally, he's nice. He came into the bedroom and sat on OH, headbutting.
As for his relationship with the other furbs, only Sly and Theo have ongoing issues with him, they are the youngsters in the family and so have had to push for their own status here, and are making Tufty work hard for his.
Pursley is wary of him, but then she's increasingly defensive against all the boys as she gets older (Pursley is almost 15 now).
Tufty uses his tray, plays with his toys (balls with bells in, a cardboard box and catnip pumpkins make him very happy) and waits patiently until everyone else has been fed before eating his own.
The chicken is working, he follows me when I make chomping sounds. He associates this sound with his favourite slippy chicken roll so I'm hoping to be able to call him in with it once he's free to roam again.
I ditched the idea of the painkillers and it seems it was just his insecurities that were making him so violent. I've also put him on grain free food (Big Sam has this diet already as he's intolerant) which may also have effected the change of mood.
I want to say we've cracked it, he still has a short fuse but seems to have forgiven me for the eye drops, and with luck we'll be letting him explore outside over easter by way of the cat flap, which he still punishes to some extent but the desperation to escape has gone. Of course he still needs to be chipped and vaccinated before he can go outside, but I'll do this when he's proven to me that today's change of heart isn't just a ruse to lull me into a false sense of security.
Next step is to get him to relax long enough that I can groom him properly, then he'll be ready for re-homing.
I asked OH if we could keep him. The answer was "No" but it wasn't convincing......
Thanks for all the advice, everyone. I might well have given up on young Tuf without your encouragement.
Here's a picture of Tufty today for you.
Sheila xx