cat/kitten troubles

Question
Hi Kate, I'd greatly appreciate any help you could give me. Myself and my boyfriend own a 7 year old British shorthair named hobbes. He is very affectionate with us, is very easy going and is a lap cat. He was only neutered when 6 as he was wandering and tended to get into fights, quite bad ones. As we have moved house we have made him an indoor cat which he has adapted to well. We decided after a bit to get a female kitten, partly as we love cats, partly as more company for him. We currently mainly have her in one room to try to get him to adjust, whenever they meet he is desperate to smell and lick her bum, she wants to spend all her time going after his tail, this annoys him I think and he bats her, often trying to get her down with a bite and get to her bum. She doesn't appear scared of him and he isn't all fluffed up like he is in a fight but it can look very vicious and we def don't feel we can leave them alone together. We are going to put her blanket on his bed tonight so he can get accustomed to her smell and we have made a fuss of him so that he doesn't feel too put out but he does  not seem happy. I'm worried he will hurt her. If it looks like it will get nasty and he is about to give her a bad bite we take him away, he then hisses and seems feral which is so not like him. What can we do? is this behaviour normal? I love hobbes loads and I want him to be happy.

Answer
Hi
what you have described is perfectly normal and is the normal way cats will behave. You are also doing all the right things to introduce them (see my web page about introducing cats here /introducing-cats.html)

Cat fights can look vicious but often they are not, it is just there way of deciding the pecking order. It can be very difficult from our point of view as we don't want our cats to be hurt but they have to be allowed to sort out their own relationship in their own way for there to be any future harmony in the house. All you can do is to be there in the background as a sort of calming and reassuring influence. let them hiss and growl, it doesn't always been they are aggressive it can also been they are fearful and are putting on a show of strength.

I'm sure that after a while they will settle down and if they decide that they don't like each other, what normally happens is that they just tolerate each other and give each other space. But lets hope they grow to become friends

best wishes
Kate