3 months ago we adopted a kitten for our cat. Before this decision, the older cat was very playful and asked a lot of attention. We are mostly at home and could give him a lot of attention but still we figured introducing a second cat to match his energy would be a good idea.

They got along pretty fast and accepted each-other (grooming, sleeping together) in about a week.

They play together at night (we can hear them chasing each-other) and when they are home alone (I sometimes put up a camera to check on them).

However when we are home, the older cat asks a lot for play, he is quite vocal in this. But here is our issue: he doesn’t play in the presence of the kitten. The kitten is more energetic and runs faster towards toys and maybe the older cat gets intimidated? He just sits and looks at the kitten playing. We have to close the door to a separate room to play with one at a time each day. I also feel like the older cat lost a bit of his quirky personality since the kitten arrived.

My question is: is this normal and how to make my older cat “confident” again to play and run without him getting overpowered by our kitten?

Thank you for any input!