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

I couldn't tell you that one, but would be very interested.
Gryfn was neutered at 12 weeks.

I would be interested as well.

Zack was done at about 10 weeks.

Having seen the Australian Breeders websites I dont think anyone is sent one that isnt already neutered

[QUOTE=Heather2mc;3051
Having seen the Australian Breeders websites I dont think anyone is sent one that isnt already neutered[/QUOTE]

As I cannot find the answer to this question, I would prefer to pay the price of a breeding cat BUT neuter him at a later stage since I have no desire or the interest in breeding.

I posed this question to my vet doctor; he could not give me a definite answer. I reiterated that I am not sure if this "slow maturity is breed specific to the Maine Coon". If so, will early neutering/spaying slow down the growth of the cat from ever reaching his/her maximum size.

As my vet doctor is no Maine Coon expert, he advised that "maybe" Merlin should be neutered between 15 and 18 months old (for optimum growth) provided he does not show signs of aggression, stress and urine marking.

Luckily, Merlin is blessed with beautiful character and he has shown no signs of wanting to mate (ie. significant loss of weight and 'calling') up till he was neutered at 15 months old.

I just did a search on this question and came across this article.
thought I would share as it's quite interesting....

Early Desexing

The evidence says that there is no difference between desexing at 3 months and desexing at 8 months. There are changes in the cat once it has hit sexual maturity....

Interesting to see the report was done on short haired domestic kittens ,what about cats such as ours that are bigger & slower maturing. I am lucky that my breeder does not agree in early neutering {nor does either of the vets I work for} & my last two from her were not done until they were 14 mths old & the fact that their pee was still not even tinged with any tom smell {unlike a domestic of that age} still makes me query the need to do our breed so young, the obvious thing is that yes it does stop the rouge "pet buyer" who would abuse the terms & conditions. As for personality they haven't altered from the day I had them,still naughty,loving,cuddly" little",meant in my babes not weight, beings...
Just as a matter of interest although not done right young I had an earlier boy,from same breeder,castrated at six months,from the day we had him he humped everything from the then three other cats to us so off they came,he has matured up into a very big bodied boy but his head has stayed very small in comparison yet his litter mates & siblings from the same mating who were done at 9mths have magnificent big heads that match the body size,not to say he would have been any different but I am left to wonder....

Originally Posted by Scrapdragon

I just did a search on this question and came across this article.
thought I would share as it's quite interesting....

Early Desexing

The evidence says that there is no difference between desexing at 3 months and desexing at 8 months. There are changes in the cat once it has hit sexual maturity....

Thanks for the link... I came across that article in German language sometime ago.
The article refers to cats in general, not breed specific.

Are coonies the only breed of domestic cats that take 3 to 5 years to mature?

My Rocco became less aggressive post surgery but Merlin remained the same.

Many US MC breeders are now neutering prior to delivering kittens (at like 12-13 weeks), and those that I have talked with do not believe it has any effect on eventual size. However, I doubt anyone has ever done the sort of large-scale studies necessary to really answer this question--and it may still vary slightly from cat to cat.

If you have never had an un-neutered male, well, I certainly wouldn't have one around even for a few days! The urine just reeks. We took in a stray male MC mix that had not been neutered, and the first time he peed we had to vacate half the house for half an hour. Took a couple of weeks after he was neutered for it to completely go away. Our first pure MC male was neutered at around 7mos, and he sprayed a wall the day before he was scheduled for surgery. Had slight male urine smell already, and to this day (5 years later), a cat will occasionally smell the wall there despite all of our cleaning efforts. So you would never convince me to keep a sexually mature male just on the off chance he might grow a bit larger. I also know that both of our breeders have had to retire young males they had kept for breeding due to spraying issues--and this was long before they turned two.

As for changes in rate of weight gain...that happens naturally, so it would be pretty hard to draw conclusions in my opinion. Our 9mos old male was neutered at 4mos because he had to have surgery anyway, but he has grown spectacularly fast at some points after the surgery. The rate of weight gain does not remain uniform, though. They definitely go through growth spurts and slow down considerably after like 8-9mos. it seems. At just 9mos he is around 15 lbs., so if he is going to end up at 20-22lbs at 3-4 years, his growth rate has to slow down. I have read that length is more reliable as it increases quite uniformly (though it is much harder to measure).

Simba was already neutered when we collected him - I was at the time quite surprised at this but to be honest I'm glad now. I was told they recover very quickly when they are smaller. I'm not sure he would have been bigger had he not been neutered so early but I doubt it would be much difference - he seems to be growing fast at the moment! His breeder also told me that he would be less likely to wonder if he was neutered early and as he comes outside with us this was important. He spent all afternoon in the garden with us today as we were gardening and he was never far away - just sat and watched us and when we went in he trotted in after us. He never ceases to amaze me - they really are quite different to any other cat so whether he is big or bigger I'm not bothered - he is just great

I agree with NCarver that unless there is an in depth survey done on just the MC's we are never going to know,what is the expected weight of an adult maine coon !There are so many variations of sizes depending on the breed lines but I love this breed because of their size,temperment, cuddles & laughs they give you but would feel very let down if I ended up with a cat that people didn't look at & say wow what breed is that.
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.just the shock of going to work with mum & coming home a few ounces lighter...
I still can't get my head round the fact though that these little babies are not only being vaccinated & their immune systems are having to cope with that & there are times when kits can become very ill from that alone but are then subjected to a general anaesthetic for a "routine op" all within such a small space of time.
Trying to understand the reasoning but having problems,could be due to age.......,mine not the cats of course !