is my adult cat playing or being aggressive?

[tiggs2012]

Hi all, I am just after a bit of advice. I have a 2 year old female cat that gave birth to just the one kitten and I decided to keep him. He's 12 weeks old. I also have and 3 year old male cat. Both adults are neutered and the male cat is not the kittens father.

The thing is my adult male cat was always cat aggressive before I had him fixed, he didn't even like my female they used to hiss and stand off with each other at contact and I've had to stop a fair few fights between them. However when my female had her baby, my male cat started to mellow a little. He stopped attacking her and s the weeks went on, he even started to play with the kitten.

But now, he's started pouncing on him and biting him, for what appears to be no reason. I'm not sure if he's being aggressive or playing rough but it concerns me because he won't let go when the kitten cries out. He doesn't show any other signs of aggression like hissing or anything and occasionally he will clean him like the kitten is his own. I'm so confused by his behaviour, can someone give me any advice on this.

Also, the kitten still goes upto my adult male and tries to play and his mom never intervenes when they do "play" like this.

 

[Ms. Freya]

It sounds like to older cat is establishing his dominance. Most cats will not attack a young kitten - they don't see them as a threat, but as the kitten's getting older your other cats is likely to want to make ti clear that he's in charge.  Male cats do seem to play rougher, I've walked in on my boys to find one with the other's head in his mouth and the first chewing on his brother's leg and it's just how they wrestle, but I would keep an eye on them, though, just to be safe and make sure no one gets hurt.

At 12 weeks old, mom likely won't intervene anymore - she'll consider him old enough to be on his own.