Younger cat wont leave older alone!

Hello! A couple of months ago we adopted a 1 year old male cat to go along with our 11 year old female. We had two other males at our old place that used to attack her, so she was weary about other cats. We were assured from the adopter (?) that this cat was mellow and would get along with her. We took him home to find he was anything but mellow!

He is pretty sweet, although he will NOT LEAVE THE GIRL CAT ALONE! We kept them separated for a long time, but even now, after months, when we put them in the same room he HAS to follow her everywhere! She smacks him over and over, but he still has to be right behind her where ever she goes. He occasionaly smacks her too, but I think he is more or less playing, or it's after she hits him. The vet seemed to think that possibly because he was young he wanted her as a mother figure?

Is there anything I can do to get him to leave her alone? She seems OK if they are in the same room, but he repeatedly gets in her face even if we move him over and over, or she hits him. Thanks.

Um I can't offer any advice to you just an opinion. I think it's a stage they go through or something. I am currently experiencing the same problem. There's only a 3mth difference between Diego and Neko, but Diego just won't leave him alone. I have to separate them constantly because Neko often just wants to lay down and relax but can't. Also it's very hot here and Neko gets so worn out by being chased (sometimes he goes looking for trouble too) he has his mouth open and exhausted. So I just put Diego away and give Neko a giant bowl of water.

I will follow this thread to see if anyone has some suggestions. I just thought it's normal.

I had the same experience and regret to this day that I got a young cat when I had an elderly cat. He made her life a living hell. It helped a lot when I got another male the same age to take the pressure off her. But even with that, I never let them alone together, she was always separated. I would leave them together when I was around, so I could stop it, if they decided to torment her.
I will never make that mistake again.

It's often a problem when you have one young cat and one older. The young ones invariably want to play and if they've no-one else to play with they'll try to play with the older cat. Mosi is a right tease with Jaffa but fortunately Jaffa can give as good as he gets and is quite playful himself. I think the only thing you can do is play with your one year old as much as possible so that he doesn't need to follow your 11 year old around as much. That or get another kitten/young cat for him to play with

This is kind of disheartening! Anyone have any positive stories in this area?