Thread: When is a kitten a cat?

Originally Posted by Becka

We got Pina in August. Since she was a rescue and they were not aware she was a Maine Coon, we had no clue how old she was. Our vet said probably 6 months. She now weights about 10lbs and in theory is almost a yr old.

I don't mean to sound stupid but this is my first cat ever. I still refer to her as a kitten, she still has kitten features and acts very kitten-ish. She plays constantly and seems to have lots of energy. I was wondering at what point they are considered "adult"? Will she still play? And for how long will she grow? I know she has some size to put on yet.

Thanks in advance for any knowledge you can pass on to me. I very glad I ended up with a Maine Coon since she is so vocal and interactive, she's been wonderful!

hiya, i think after the first year they are considered adults as for how long females get all depends? males can get to about 40 inches from nose tip to tail. I find it hard to measure my cats in that way so I measure them from paw to paw.


My Sheldon is 43 inch from paw to paw around 14 months. I think for females its about 38 inch from paw to paw.

If you take a look at Size Isn't Everything. that site might give you a better insight to what
size your coon will get?

MCC remain child like their entire lives, the boys especially never grow up, that's part of what makes them so endearing.

Mainecoons don't reach full maturity until they are four years old so until then you don't really know what look & size you are going to end up with so that is the time I would class them as "adults" but agree with other postings they can remain like kittens in nature all the while,our old girl was playing up until a few hours before we had to say our final goodbye to her.

What cooncatbob said!! Also MC's can take 3-5 years to fully mature physically!

Thanks for all the info! I'm sure she will always be considered a baby in this house, she has us pretty well trained. She's chewing on my toe as I type lol My husband and I "weigh in" every Saturday and we've added her to our charts as we thought it would be fun to see how she grows.

Adult body, kitten head forever! That is the charm of a Maine Coon, they never really grow up and to hear 2 or 3 16lb cats charging around the house always makes me smile.

Originally Posted by Musicalife

Adult body, kitten head forever! That is the charm of a Maine Coon, they never really grow up and to hear 2 or 3 16lb cats charging around the house always makes me smile.

She does have a kitten head! Kind of a baby face. I do love the sound of her nails skittering across the floor when she charging something...or sometimes nothing at all lol

Here's a couple new pics of her. I'm like photographing her constantly! lol

Rasputin's over a year old now but I still refer to him as a kitten...

Maine Coon Cats don't mature fully till they are 3 to 5 years of age and that is when they stop growing but not gaining weight as with all cats. They are very talkative cats and females are a little smaller than males witch when fully grown can be 40 pounds I think the most a female will weigh is 38 pounds and this is pure breeds if they are a mix they will have traits of the other breeds but will always be slightly bigger that the other breed usually is. Take my last cat Koda he was half Maine Coon, 1/4 British Shorthair, and 1/4 Oriental Shorthair. He was 17 pounds by the time he was 5 and when he passed away he was 11 pounds and that was after he had stopped eating and lost a lot of weight. My first Feather was half Main Coon and half Norwegian Forest and both of those breeds are pretty big but the Wegies are smaller. Feather was 10 pounds at the age of 3 when we had to give her away due to family issues. My cat now Missie is just like Feather Half Maine Coon and half Wegie and she is right now 8 pounds and almost 2 years old so she has a few more years to grow. I hope this helps!