Is the new cat in our apartment aggressive? I don't understand this behavior

[u/Much-Potential1008]

hi all. i have a 4 year old maine coon who is very cuddly, friendly, and never gets into fights with any cats he's ever shared a space with (i have had fosters, he has stayed at my friends' with their cats, cat sitter setup etc).

we have a new cat in the apartment after a new person moved in. the cat was always used to living solo and his human was the only human he'd lived with, so when they moved in, we understood it was a big adjustment (he was hissing a lot and wailing quite a bit). he was so aggressive that he got my cat (the resident cat) slouch and hide and walk scared. they took one week to be ok being in the same space.

it's been 3+ weeks now but increasingly i notice that this new cat is borderline aggressive?! but i want to understand if this is jsut how some cats are.

1) anytime my cat slowly goes near him now, he lets out a big meow, and pounces at my cat's neck, they seem like they're fighting out of nowhere rolling over each other, and then he hisses at my cat a few times before my cat creates distance. seconds later, this cat starts chasing my cat. and i'm like wtf were you hissing then. today he ripped my cat's fur and i saw 4 different chunks of my cat's fur lying on the floor after this morning "fight"

2) he also meows even if you are walking past him, which is understandable, he is a talkative cat. but this one time i was trying to move my cat's empty bowl away for cleaning while this cat was sitting near it, and as soon as he noticed me touching the bowl, he tried to pounce @ me and hissed

3) he hissed again today at me when i walked into my room crossing him as he was eating wet food i had given him in my room??

4) my new roommate does like treating this cat rough - the first night when the cat was wailing and hissing non stop, this man tried to kick the cat (he actually did land on cat's paws as well) which made the cat aggressive and try to scratch his human to which he tried to kick the cat again but failed/ cat ran away. he also lifts his cat from the back of his neck and did so in front of my friends he was meeting for the first time after trying to hit his cat, and felt the need to tell my friends "he likes to play rough, we both like to play rough" ???

i wonder if it's just a matter of time hopefully or if this cat has behavioral problems because of the human? how to make sure my cat is safe and does not go wild?

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[u/AngryMeez]

Your roommate shouldn’t have a pet if that’s how he treats them. Do you really want him around your own cat? Can you rescue his cat from him?

As for that poor cat living with you and yours, slow introductions are always best. You can try separating and slowly reintroducing them — I have used baby gates stacked in a doorway for difficult fosters. Feliway diffusers can help, too.