Adult female cat tries to bite kitten after smelling

[18mitsume]

So we had two female cats until we adopted a stray cat and her daughter. We were actually having problems with the cats since the new mother cat kept on attacking the other 2 until we decided to just leash her (we couldn't keep her caged because she isn't comfortable with it). We could only do that since our house doesn't really have rooms to separate them. We have two floors, so our previous cats stayed on the 2nd floor while the other two stayed on the first. Now the stray cat was pregnant 8 weeks ago, she gave birth to four kittens. My sister and I tried our best to gradually introduce the kitten by bringing them upstairs for a bit every few days.

Recently they began going up on their own. One of my older cats seemed to be indifferent to them already, even though they hiss at her. But the other (a little more than a year old) would still get aggressive sometimes.
She would hiss or try to bite with her hair standing up and everything. But she always seemed to hold back.

Just now, we thought she was just trying to get to know the kittens by smelling their bum and body. She was smelling around the neck but then without any obvious sign of aggression she tried to bite the kittens neck. I was so scared she was silently trying to kill the kitten. We tried it again and let her smell the bum but she tried to bite the kitten again (around the bum this time).

Now even when I try to mediate like holding the kitten or sitting in between her and the kitten, she would actively try to go to the kitten and smell her. And maybe going to bite again (i didn't let it happen again but it seems that's what she wanted).

Her hair isn't standing up but she meows, sometimes vibratingly, when she is trying to get to the kitten.

Is this some kind of silent aggression? Is she trying to kill the kitten?

 

[ArtNJ]

I'm pretty certain you are misinterpreting play. One year olds are the most playful of cats, and adult cats essentially never hurt kittens. Also, biting is a normal part of play. If you need further reassurance, please post a video for us, but I don't think there is anything further to worry about as to this one year old.

...well, once you allow full play, you probably will worry that its too rough. Maybe the kitten will do some squealing and running away, which is normal. Thats a normal worry, we get that all the time. So you can come back and ask us more questions. But your fine, these cats are going to be friends -- just let them do their thing. That said, the kitten is only 8 weeks old, and some one year olds are just crazy rough, so watch. Post another video or come back. If need be, you can wait a couple of weeks. But this will be fine.

 

[18mitsume]

I do hope it is just rough play. We tried playing kitten sounds, here is how she reacted. This is how she was last night, trying to get to the kittens.

 

[18mitsume]

Here is a videos of her trying to get to the kitten sounds we were playing.