Will my 2yo cat ever bond with our new kitten he is asserting aggressive dominance over?
We have a 2 yo very social and smart boy cat. We recently adopted a 5 mo boy kitten to be a companion for our existing cat so he isn’t so (seemingly) sad when we’re at work and what not (we also play with him a ton and provide lots of enrichment).
We tried slowly reintroducing them, scent swapping while kitten was confined in a separate room, etc, and did a couple of meetings through a screen door that seemed to go well. As soon as we did an in person meet, our 2 yo seemed very anxious and was throat biting the kitten (for dominance, I assume). We quickly separated them and started the introducing process over again. The same thing has happened three times and our 2 yo is increasingly stressed with the kitten in the house - he’s now vomiting, not playing, etc.
I’m just wondering if this will ever get better? Even when the kitten is bigger and can defend himself, will our older cat ever bond with the kitten if he is being this aggressive now? The whole point in getting a kitten was to provide him a companion, and we are wondering if we need to re-home the kitten so they can both have a better living environment.
I know cats are tricky and bringing new ones in a home can be hit or miss, I just want to make sure we’re assessing their behaviors and acting accordingly.
TIA for any advice.