Even before we brought Gus home, our Maine Coon cat, one of the questions that firstly came to our heads was if we should neuter him and if the answer was positive then when should we do it?
We asked the veterinary and the breeder and here is the resume of the information we got.
WHAT IS NEUTERING?
To neuter or neutering is to remove the sexual organ of an animal. In males, the testicles and in females the uterus and ovaries. The act of neutering a female is usually called spaying.
SHOULD I NEUTER MY MAINE COON?
The answer to this question is YES, unless you want to be a breeder.
Neutering your Maine Coon will help him or her and even you in many ways:
1.It will increase your cat’s health
Sterilizing your Maine Coon will help to reduce the risk of health problems as cancer (some females, for example, can produce milk even without having babies and that can lead to breast cancer if not spayed). In males it eliminates the risk of prostate cancer.
2.The probabilities that your cat runs away from home decrease
One of our concerns was that our Maine Coon would run away from home. Even if he had just three months when we brought him, he was living in a place where he had grass and liberty to run and play outside. Now we are living with Gus inside an apartment and even if he has a balcony, is not the same. The vet told us that neutering Gus will help, once he won't feel the need to search for a female.
3.The urine of your Maine Coon won't be all around and it won't be so smelly!
When your four-paws pal is not neutered, commonly, he starts to spray urine to mark its territory. This can be very annoying for cat owners, specially because the urine can be really smelly, due to the strong presence of pheromones, which does not happen when the cat is sterilized.
4.The behavior of your Main Coon will be more friendly
When in heat cats can be very territorial. The fact your feline is neutered will reduce potential aggressive behaviors towards other pets in the house and towards you.
5.You won't have undesired kittens
Ok, we all love kittens and cats, but one thing is to have them “ready”, other is to deal with deliver, extra costs and care if your Maine Coon female has babies or to contribute to the number of abandoned kittens if your male is “having fun” outside. If you don't want this, neuter your feline.
AT WHAT AGE SHOULD YOU NEUTER YOUR MAINE COON?
In this topic we have not found a consensus. The breeder recommended to do it around 8 months, because Maine Coons take more time to mature sexually if compared with other cat breeds. The vet recommended to sterilize Gus from the sixth month. Others recommend to do it between the 4th and the 8th month (best time for all types of cat and not specifically for Maine Coons).
What do you think? What would be the best time to neuter the cat?