When is it safe to leave kitten with 15mth cat??

[vanilla]

So I've succumbed to adding another kitty to the household. A lovely ginger male kitten. Now the problem I have is that my younger cat is a little too rough with him when they play. My 10wk kitten is very docile and nothing like my other cat when he was a kitten.

I've been supervising them when introducing them slowly. Initial introductions resulted in hissing and growling from the older cat. Now when he sees the kitten it looks like he goes into hunting mode! His eyes are so dilated and he pounces and bites the kitten hard when playing as I hear the kitten squeal in pain. I quickly intervene and break it up.

What I want to know is when can I leave them together without me being worried about the kitten being harmed or even killed? Will the older cat stop biting him so hard? :/

[Lilith]

Hi and congrats - ohh a ginger too (I have a soft spot for gingers!)

Yes, you'll need to keep them apart at the moment, for quite some time to come ... but, one day, Ginger will be a big chap and he'll wallop seven bells out of senior ...

There's no definite rule about ages (and I've known younger cats gang up on Mother cat - who took it in good part) but you'll know when the tide turns and Ginger can hold his own. Until then, you're wise to supervise. Perhaps some sort of game playing where they have to run about together and the older cat's distracted from hunting the younger, like a laser torch or Da Bird might work?

Fusses to them both and good luck