Older male cat and new male kitten possible odd behavior?

Question

I have a 2 and a half year old male cat (almost 3) named Ollie and I just got a new male kitten named Connor he's 11 weeks old. I know its normal for the older cat to clean the kitten, which Ollie is doing. But my question is is it normal for an older cat to bite the younger cat? Ollie has only done this once to Connor and it was in the neck area. He's gotten past the stage of hissing at Connor whenever he sniffs him. But why did he bite him? Is he trying to assert dominance?

Answer 1

It could very well be a dominance thing. I have three female cats. Velvet (15) doesn't bite either of the other two. Marina (2 1/2) and Tosca (6 months) both bite Velvet and each other, usually during the course of grooming. Sometimes it looks like part of the cleaning and sometimes it looks like "sit still, I'm not done yet." Marina and Tosca bite each other during play as if to say "enough" to the other. I think it's very normal behavior in a multi-cat household.

Answer 2

It is most likely a dominance issue. It could have also been an attempt to get something off the kitten that wouldn't come off just by licking. Both of these things are perfectly normal.

You may find that sometimes they will bite when they play too. As long as neither is biting to hard that the other is wounded it's fine.

If the biting becomes and issue you'll need to try some behavior modifications. But it sounds like for now everything is under control.

Answer 3

The kitten probably pushed the older cat too far and he was showing him to calm down and leave him alone. The 'bites' are usually just a fanging, not a draw blood kind of thing. With luck the kitten will get the message and tone it down some.

Answer 4

your older cat is asserting dominance--- this is my space so do not get out of line or then the bite on the neck to demonstrate the outcome of being out of line. don't worry about the interaction. it is normal stuff to establish pecking order. if the older cat attacks the younger one only then do you have a problem. at one time i actualy had to give away a young cat because the older one would not accept it.