kitten attacking older cat

Question
I have just gotten a new 14 week old male kitten as company for my 13 year old male cat, as his companion had died about 6 months ago and I thought he was getting a bit lonely.

my 13 y.o. is very docile and doesn't fight anybody...including strays if they happen to come in thro' our cat flap.

the problem is...the kitten, at first terrified of him...
knows that he is immune from him and is attacking him all the time...even tho' he is huge.

he just runs outside and takes a huge amount of coaxing to come back in.

we are spending excessive amounts of time showering love and reassurance on the 13 y.o. - and love him so much that we don't want him abandoning us in favor of somewhere where he feels more secure.

how do we stop the kitten attacking him ?

any help & advice appreciated.

Answer
Lynette,

A 14 week old kitten is NOT a good companion for a 13 year old cat. Your cat is 68 years old in human years. It is like getting him a 10 year old child for company.

My choice for a replacement friend would be another older cat. It would be saving one from being put down because no one wants an old cat, and it would be less stressful for your cat.

The older they get, the less they adapt. And yes, you are taking a chance on him leaving.

And it's not fair to the kitten. The kitten needs a kitty friend his own age to play kitty games with. They have so much energy at that age. And the kitten is trying to play like that with the older cat and it's making both of them not very happy.

The house is the older cat's territory and it's being taken over by a young 'whippersnapper'. The older cat has had to deal with losing his other companion and now with this. It could make him physically sick. He's at the age where things are going to start giving out, and the stress of the kitten may hasten things along.

The older cat is probably lonely because he misses his other friend, not because he needs a new one.

Tabbi