Male dominent behavior

Question
I have an 18 month old brother and sister pair and have added a young kitten. Every thing has been going quite well with the kitten respecting the older cats very well and play activity, mostly chasing. The kitten is female not yet spayed, but soon will be eligible for spaying. My male has become what i believe is overly aggressive. He grabs the kitten with her crying out often getting worse since he won't release. I know he bites her, and i expect some of this behavior, but i fear that he is being overly aggressive. he is a large 15 lb male. She/kitten has bonded with the male, with my adult female seemingly left in the cold. Is the male's behavior excessive, should i be concerned, how should i respond? I have pulled him off of the kitten when i feel it has gone on too long, and had to be somewhat of a disciplinarian, which i doubt is a positive response. Your help is appreciated.

Answer
Sam,

Whenever you have an established cat community and add another cat/kitten, it does change the dynamics of all the relationships.

I am assuming your male is neutered?

My feeling is that the male's behavior is normal and he will not hurt the kitten.  If the kitten becomes too, too pesky, the adult cat will often just hold onto it.  Rough play is very normal to cats.  If you watched little kittens you would see that they are awful.  They are constantly biting and scratching on each other.  This is how they play!!!!!

So, I would ignore them!!!!!  Let them play.  If the kitten has gotten itself where the male is just holding on, leave them be.  No one is really getting hurt in all of this.  Any human intervention including separation, discipline, etc. is counter productive only only tends to exacerbate the situation.  Cats are not people and should not be attributed with human emotions!

What I would do is, whenever you play with the kitten, make sure you give both 18 month olds extra attention and treats so they will not become jealous of the kitten.  In fact it may bring your older female out of her shell (and then again, it may not!).

Please feel free to follow up this with other questions or more detailed explanations.

Best regards... Norm.