Ok, so you guys were definitely right...now what?

Ok, so I got the kitty! I adopted an adorable,medium haired orange male 3 month old kitten!! He is almost too adorable to be "real"!! Here is the dilemma...Cosmo who is 2 and prior to getting Leo (the kitten), I never heard him hiss or show any signs of agression, is now exhibiting strange behavior!! Many people advised me that I would definitely hear hissing now and boy were you guys right!! Anyway, granted,the kitten bothers Cosmo becuase he wants to play. Sometimes, Cosmo sits there and just looks at the kitten with complete disdain and a real "stuck up" look. Other times, even if the kitten is not bothering him, he chases him, pins the kitten down and bites him!!! I don't get it!! The kitten will then meow as if he is hurt !! I have never seen broken skin but still I feel awful for the new baby!! Besides, Cosmo was an angel before I adopted the kitten. Any ideas why Cosmo is doing this? And what should I do? Allow it and they will settle it or correct Cosmo? I am not sure cats are trainable like that!! Any advice would be appreciated...
By the way, my Golden Retreiver, is just waiting pateintly for the day the 3 pd kitten will actually , maybe, want to play with him. In the meantime,he wags his tail at him and if the "baby" (hahaha) hisses as he often does, the 90 pd Golden backs up!!!! Hysterical!! Anyway, I just wanted to say everyone on the forum here is GREAT!! Your help is always invaluable!!

As long as the kitten is not getting hurt and the older cat isn't getting too rough or bullying the kitten, it sounds to me like he's trying to play. My suggestion is to just keep a close eye on them so that nothing happens to the kitten, and let them do their thing. They are going to need to establish dominance, how to play with one another and your kitten will be learning from your older kitty.

First of all cats are territorial and a cat that's an 'angel' with humans is not necessarely an 'angel' with other cats.

Having said that though, what you're describing sounds completely normal. If Cosmo was unable to even see the kitten without violently attacking the baby I'd be worried. So him sitting with a stuck up look on his face is a good sign

You can't expect the cats to become friends right away and they might never get along beyond tolerating each others presence.

However your situation sounds completely normal and I'd just keep an eye out but mostly leave them alone. I don't think Cosmo is doing anything wrong, he's bigger, older and was there first so he's allowed to be a bit upset at the new kitten as long as he doesn't get too rough.

If an adult cat was really out of sorts with a new kitten, it wouldn't be a simple pin down. You would know it was serious. First of all, the kitten would be terrified and would hide from Cosmo. Secondly, Cosmo would probably continuously stalk him. Cosmo is teaching your new kitten who the boss is within your household by teaching him manners.

From what I can gleem from your description, it sounds like they are doing the same thing that my Max did to all new kitten arrivals. The kitten would get rowdy, and Max would pin them down until they calmed down. There were times that he'd do this with one paw, pull his head back so that the kitten couldn't whack his face, all the while the kitten would frantically wave its arms trying to get closer to his face. Max was alpha cat and all the kittens looked up to him as they got older.

Look for overt aggression or overt fear. Otherwise, it sounds like they are already working it out.

I agree with the others, what you've described sounds like a normal part of the process just like it's normal for some dogs (yours!) to understand the kitten is a baby and needs to be approached more carefully. Congratulations! It sounds like you're going to have a well adjusted house once they all get settled.

I had the same thing happen to me when I brought winnie home to meet Gracie. Gracie just stared her down and hissed and growled and sometimes swatted at her and winnie just seemed like she didn't care one bit. Finally when I gave winnie her first flea bath gracie went up to her and started to help her clean herself thats when I knew that they would turn out to be great friends. Gracie was just the dominant cat and had to show winnie who was and would always be the boss. Winnie doesn't care and now that winnie has her own set of little ones, Gracie is not fond of them, but I saw her the other day walk up behind one and lick its back. She is aunti Gracie. I think everything will be fine, everything sounds normal and I bet they will turn out to be friends yet, and if not they will tolerate each other.

Awww... WELCOME LEO!! It is alright. They are playing and learning about each other. Just enjoy their antics! Its fun to watch them wrestle, and you will definately see a new side to Cosmo...his more "cat" side. With us they adapt and can take on some 'human' traits. But together they are all cat! Its fun to see them be more 'themselves'.

Sounds pretty normal. Every time I added a cat (or brought in a foster), that's pretty much how it went. Eventually everyone gets back to normal.

The only thing with an older cat and a kitten is you may want to give the older cat some hours in a separate room from the kittens. Kittens can be exhausting

Just wanted to say thank you for everyone's advice!! I am glad to know their behavior is normal!! WHEW!!

I've also noticed that when they fight, they usually aren't hurting each other even when it sounds the total opposite.