kitten and adult cat behavior(Alpha Male issue?)

Question
Hi, we have a almost 4 year old male neutered Orange Tabby, and in med August  rescuedadopted (found abandoned under a car) a two week old kitten, male. Both receive regular vet care and are healthy. We keep the kitten in a seperate area of the house, so that he can roam free in that end of the house, and our older cat can roam free in the other end. Once a day we "switch"them for about an hour, so they don't get jealous of not being able to get into a certain area of the house. Especially the older cat.
Also, once a day, we let them out together , for about an hour, (closely supervised by us) so they can keep getting used to each other on a daily basis. Our older cat is quite a big guy, about 12 lbs, not overweight at all, just a big boned bruiser of a cat, with very sharp teeth (and not declawed).
When we let them get together, the kitten immediately of course starts chasing the older cat. (Kitten name--Chester, Older Cat name--Rusty.) Rusty runs away initially, then they do the pawing at each other thing. Rusty has had anough of this after about five minutes, but of course Cheste keeps at it. This is when Rusty starts to get angry, doesn't hiss, but if we don't grab Rusty right away, he pins Chester down on the ground so Chester can't move, and attempts to bite Chester on his back or the back of the neck. This scares me, because this is how some of my cats in the past would kill their prey when they were outside.(Rusty is an indoor only cat, as well as Chester will be)Do you think Rusty is trying to kill him by biting him like that? Are we right to grab him as quickly as we do, because if not, would Rusty actually bite through Chesters back/neck and actually kill him? How long do you think this will continue?
Incidentally, when they are both in their "seperate" areas of the house, (and I will continue to do this until Chester is big enough to defend himself), there is a door that seperates them, and they do play the paw game with each other under the door, so I guess Rusty likes Chester at least a little, or he wouldn't play like that.
But this biting on the back/neck ( and Rusty is growling a little when he does it) is scaring me. Sorry for the length of this, but wanted to give you all the facts. Thanks !!!!

Answer
Cindi,

By my guestimate, Chester is almost 4 months of age. So, he should be able to take care of himself.

What I am about to suggest is very counter intuitive, so I will give you a bit of background.  First of all, cats have incredibly tough skin (watch a vet give a cat a shot, they virtually have to punch that needle through the skin).  Secondly, if you saw how young kittens (a week old or more), play with each other, you would be appalled,  They bite and scratch and hiss and growl, and, nobody gets hurt!!!!!

So, the first thing I will tell you is that Rusty and Chester are not going to hurt each other no matter how awful it looks.

Secondly, we all fall into the trap of ascribing human emotions and motives to cats. They do not think like we do. About the only thing that seems the same as we humans is jealousy.  So, when Chester and Rusty are together, make sure to give Rusty extra attention and treats so that the presence of the kitten is a good thing. This is not different than a sibling reacting to a new baby.

OK, so what to do!

I would not keep them separated any longer. They are not going to hurt each other, so if they play rough, grit your teeth and ignore it, even if it sound like World War III.  They will never, ever get to know each other if they are kept separated and only allowed each other's full company for an hour or so a day.  They need time and exposure to work out how they want to relate to each other. The good news is that adult cats are much more tolerant of kittens than other adult cats (even if it does not look that way).

Finally, there are two rules I have in relation to cat inter-relationships. (1) All human interference is counter productive and just prolongs the "getting to know you" rituals; and (2) We mere humans do not understand the rules, but the cats do! So you must not intervene in any way, you must not separate them, you must not break up any of the "fighting" (as it is really very rough play).  If you hear hissing and growling, see biting and scratching and even loose fur, but no signs of blood being drawn, ignore it. If they are playing chase, this is the best sign of all, even if it ends in a mock fight! Other good signs are mutual grooming.  BTW, when Rusty has had enough, he will just jump to somewhere Chester cannot get to.

Please let me know how they fare.

Best regards... Norm.