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

Hi all,

Not sure if I am posting this in the appropriate forum.
As I read from a Maine Coon book by Carol Himsel Daly & Karen Leigh Davis, intact male cats are more likely to achieve their fullest genetic potential because of sex hormone contributions to development.

Does this mean that the younger you neuter/spay your kitten, it will hinder the growth from being able to reach the full size?

Example 1:
My Rocco was neutered at 7 months as the breeder will not provide me with his pedigree cert. until after the surgery. I noticed that Rocco's growth slowed down since as I keep a daily weight record.

Example 2:
My Merlin was neutered at 15 months old and his weight gain has also slowed down several months since after the surgery.

I have been told by breeders that male MCs often become larger after neutering BUT breeders who neuter their intact males often do so when they choose to retire them after several years of breeding (MCs reach their full size between 3 to 5 years old as written in the MC books I have read).

Any thoughts on this?

Thanks in advance.:winkwink:

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....

Quote:

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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....

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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:smile:

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 !

We are going to leave it as long as poss with Louie I think the more mature the better :nod:

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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

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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 :sad1:

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 :LOL:

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 :shy:

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