Thread: Does the age of neutering/spaying affect size of Maine Coons?

jckkerrison: I do disagree strongly though with the reason of neutering a male cat so young is because of the smell, most breeds get to the 6 months at which point they are coming to the "maturing stage" & yes will start to then get smelly & or spray,hence that is the age most cats are neutered,girls obviously to stop them being young mums & boys smelling, but I have had no problems with smell or spraying from my boys, I have kept them whole until 10mths & 14mths & always felt you didn't get the problem because of the later age they reach maturity & no they deff.don't take longer to get over op

Breeders are not neutering before delivering kittens to avoid smell, it is to avoid making the owners have to go through surgery with a new pet, since there is always some chance something could go wrong and the pet could die, and that would be quite traumatic for the new owner. It does also avoid the problem of somebody refusing to adhere to their agreement to neuter.

As for smell/spray, it sounds to me like you were very lucky to not have problems to the ages you mention. Just from our limited experience, it is clear that males differ greatly. The intact MC male that we took in never ever sprayed in the house, even though he sprayed all the time outside (even after he was neutered he sprayed constantly outside). But you can clearly see from his outside spraying that once that habit is learned they might very well continue. On the other hand, one of our male kittens sprayed at only 7mos and already was starting to smell. I shudder to think what would have happened if we had tried to wait several months more to neuter him. Not likely that one event would have been it. Finally, I note that "inappropriate elimination" is the number one reason that people get rid of cats in the US. Waiting past 7mos to neuter a male is going to increase the likelihood that will happen to your male. Is that a chance worth taking? Not to me.

I think it all comes down to the cats enviroment if he starts spraying at a young age. I no a very good breeder who has two boys that are not used for studs & are both over 12 months old & neither have started spraying yet but she is expecting it soon. Our old MC was neuterd when he was just over a year old. Some breeders hold onto the cats registration untill they are neuterd/spayed to try & ensure they are not breed from.

My personal reason for waiting untill Louie is older is that Scutter had the snip very young & has had urinay problems for the last 8 years now,(he is a moggy & 12 now) he forms stones unless he has his pill everyday & prescription food

I dont know about MC's but in the Dalmatian world it is best not to get a dog neuterd before it is 15 months old as they to can suffer the same problem, then again even if they arnt neuterd they can still become stone formers either way I'm prepared to wait untill Louie is older, he is a house cat so cant go off looking for a girlfriend but as soon as he gets to big for his boots he will be off to the vets

Meant to say I dont think it will affect there full grown size if anything they may be bigger as cats & dogs can get a little podgy after being neuterd/spayed

We have a Newfoundland puppy, now 10 months old, and like most giant breeds Newfs are prone to hip dysplasia and other bone problems. So we are not neutering our Newfie boy because studies have shown he needs those hormones to make big strong bones.

We asked our Maine Coon breeder if it was the same for MCs and she said we could wait until our kitten boys are 10 months old or earlier when their urine starts getting strong to neuter them. Generally breeders say, "By 6 months." I'm hoping they don't get stinky or spray before 10 months because I want them to get everything they need to grow big and strong and have no developmental deficiencies.

I had one boy done at 10mths & the last two were over a year & I never had any of them spray or were even in the slighest bit smelly,I tended to presume rightly or wrongly that as they are a slower maturing breed they wouldn't mature in that department as quickly as a domestic cat.When we castrate a 9 to 10 month domestic cat at work they quite honestly stink but no one could believe when my last two went in that there wasn't the smell not even when one done a big pee,wether its because they don't get the "female" smell to stimulate them I don't know or wether I was just lucky.The one boy {Merlyn}that I had done at six months because he jumped on anyone & everything has a wonderful body size but a very small head that really is out of proportion with the rest of his body & I have always wondered if I had waited....!There has been lots of discussions on the forum at different times about this & like everything all have their own ideas & reasons for doing or not doing neutering early/later,I am just pleased my breeder trusts me not to abuse her restrictions & have mine done when I think they are ready.
Good luck Teddy B for when your time comes x