Aggression Question

I have been doing some reading, but wanted to get some opinions...

first a little background, just in case it makes a difference...

I have 2 cats. A Male (Harley) and a Female (Noel). both cats are a few years old and have been living together for about 3 years now. They "were" the best of friends. About a year ago Harley got crystals and spent 3 nights at the vet. Ever since his return Noel hasn't treated him the same. she is constantly hissing at him, although they do "play fight" sometimes, and growling at him, etc. He mainly has ignored her until recently, where he seems to be "fighting back". Now they are both adults and can each hold their own against one another, so I am letting them figure it out between themselves because neither is getting "hurt".

Now here comes the part about the question I had...

About 2-3 weeks ago we had a stray 8 week old female kitten find its way into my back yard. With all the no kill shelters (all shelters for that matter) all full to the brim with cats and not accepting any new ones (not even a baby kitten), I couldnt just let it starve, etc. Yeah i know I am a softy. Anyways this kitten is now part of the family. got her all fixed up on shots, etc, and she is now putting on much needed weight. So we started slowly introducing her to the 2 cats we had. Noel, wants nothing to do with her. If she even smells her scent on you she growls, hisses, and runs away. she WILL NOT go anywhere near the kitten and when she does by accident, here comes the growls and hissing... Based on her attitude towards Harley i shrug her off as "that is just how she is going to be", and because she isn't physically trying to harm or take actions against the kitten, I am not worried...

that leads me to Harley. Harley on the other hand was the interested one. He actually wanted to meet her although he cried when he was around her. He camps out in front of the door to the finished side of the basement (currently where the kitten sleeps) until you let him in. He even cries at the door when we put her in her room and go to bed. He took a pretty quick liking to her and she LOVES him to death. Always wants to be around him. for the first several days all was pretty normal. He would slowly work his way towards her, cry a little, but eventually they would be laying beside each other on the bed. He cleans her alot, etc. she seemed to have found a "boyfriend"

A few days ago, something changed. Harley will now start to clean her, then all of a sudden go right for her neck (and being she is sooo tiny and he is a big boy) she starts crying, and squeeking, and his mouth surrounds her whole neck. That is the part that is worrying me. he isn't growling at her, but he is MUCH larger than she is (pictures below). Not sure if this is a dominance thing, or "sexual aggression" i read about, or what, but I dont want him accidentally snapping the little kittens neck. We dont allow the kitten to roam free because we are afraid of what "might" happen, which would be horrible, but worse yet my 2 daughters would be crushed.

Any thoughts, suggestions, etc?

-ClevelandCatGuy

thanks for the reply. yea he was fixed long ago as a kitten and the new one will be too. find out when that will be next week at her next vet appt.

Last night I let them be by each other and watched him like a hawk, when he made his move (knew he would), I used that scruffing technique i read about. took about 5+ min to get him to calm down (didnt like being held down like that at all), but after he calmed down he pretty much kept his distance from her the rest of the night, didnt hiss or growl at her when he did see her, so think it had a positive effect. I think I will continue with doing that, as it seems to have helped last night.

After that I kept them separated by gating off the living room from the rest of the house. Every now and then he would walk up to the gate and smell her, but nothing else. Only problem is she will have to go in a separate room when not home because the smart little bugger figured out how to climb the cat gate this morning. I was getting ready to get in the shower at 5am and I hear a bell then the little thing ran accross the hallway. I put her back in and 2 min later, up and over it again she was. Funny thing is my 2 adult cats have never climbed or jumped over those gates :p