insists on sleeping on my chest while I try to work, growls if I have to move him

by Steve H
(Oregon)

Clint (my rescued cat who was found a starveling 6-month-old in a Target parking lot) required a good amount of rehabilitation to get him to stop biting too hard, and to stop panicking when he was picked up. Fortunately we learned how to manage this

After many years, he's become a good friend and companion, and since my wife, and two of the three older females who were a part of the household died (her cat followed her), he's become less aggressive to the remaining female (who was the one who sometimes played with him, though they were pretty fierce.) They now get along fairly well.

At this point though, he's developed a behavior I am having trouble figuring out.

He likes to cuddle up on my chest while I'm sitting in my recliner. Since I have a keyboard and display on a swivel so I can work (this is better for my back and feet) this isn't so bad except that I cannot always SEE, and he has begun to complain when I move.

By complain I mean "growl and swear". If he's already in my chair, and I move him out, he growls and swears; if I pick him up and sit down with him on me, he growls and swears for a while but usually stops.

However, this isn't getting better. He has begun to protest violently (by grabbing with claws, and even biting) if I try to move him or put him down.

I can understand that he's upset about being disturbed, and I'm going to put two chairs next to each other so he can be in one and I can be in the other without the conflict, but meanwhile I need to figure out why he's escalating, and of course I need to remember to use the "yelp" and the push back, and probably need to trim claws for a while until he gets over this phase...

but I'd love to know why he's gotten the idea that he's the boss.