Does Neutering Affect Size

[Danglos]

Hi

I have a question. Milo turns 9 months tomorrow and was an early neuter. Ollie is 5 months and Charlie nearly 5 months and both are not yet neutered and almost the same size as Milo.

I know Milo is about 3 months underweight/size but vet checked as perfectly healthy. So the question I have is has the early neutering stunted his growth? All three are classified as variation BSH 22 ie classic silver tabby.

 

[Willowy]

Very early neutering may make a cat taller and lankier. But basically, a cat will be as big as his genes dictate. It may take longer if he had a bad start but he'll get there.

 

[Nixx]

I wouldn't say it's stunted their growth, more like affected their hormones. I'm no vet, but my 2 year old neutered siamese is way smaller than my 1 year unneutered tabby (that looks like a long noodle), but my siamese is perfectly healthy too!

 

[laureen227]

My neutered boy is long, lanky and muscled. He was neutered when I got him (shelter), & was 4 months-ish old when he came to me. My other male, from years ago, was neutered as an adult. He was big & bulky, very 'tom' looking in the face.

 

[Kieka]

Neutering and spaying impact hormones and delays the signals to the body to close long bone growth. Which means an early neutered or spayed cat will be slightly longer then they would be if they have been unaltered.

For example, my 14 pound long boy was neutered around 8 weeks old. My 7.5 pound short legged cat was spayed at 7 months. Both are probably just as they would have been is they weren't spayed/neutered with maybe a little of the long leg of my boy being because of the neuter.... Maybe. Domestic cats do have a a lot of variation in their body shape and size.

 

[Willowy]

I should clarify---yes, testosterone does affect muscle development, so a tom or late neuter will be bulkier, in some ways "bigger". And early neutering will delay growth plate closure, so that's why an early neuter may be taller and lankier. But their basic size is genetic, so they'll get as big as they're meant to get (barring severe malnutrition that causes permanent stunting).

 

[kittyluv387]

Wow learned some interesting stuff here! Thanks.

 

[GalaxyGirl]

Neutering and spaying impact hormones and delays the signals to the body to close long bone growth. Which means an early neutered or spayed cat will be slightly longer then they would be if they have been unaltered.

For example, my 14 pound long boy was neutered around 8 weeks old. My 7.5 pound short legged cat was spayed at 7 months. Both are probably just as they would have been is they weren't spayed/neutered with maybe a little of the long leg of my boy being because of the neuter.... Maybe. Domestic cats do have a a lot of variation in their body shape and size.

For this reason I delayed spaying the smallest kitten from a litter I kept. I was hoping she’d grow a bit more. But she’s been 7 pounds and tinny since 7 months. She’s 14.5 months now. The larger two were fixed at 6.5 months.

 

[Kieka]

For this reason I delayed spaying the smallest kitten from a litter I kept. I was hoping she’d grow a bit more. But she’s been 7 pounds and tinny since 7 months. She’s 14.5 months now. The larger two were fixed at 6.5 months.

Rocket has always been tiny. I got her at 3/4 months old and she was just a smidgen over a pound. Bad nutrition and losing her Mom too young on the streets probably permanently stunted her.... Or she was just meant to be small. I didn't delay her spaying for growth issues, she had a bunch of health scares and concerns so we delayed to make sure she was healthy enough.

 

[Willowy]

I have a full-grown female---3 years old now, I think---who weighs 6 pounds, 10 ounces (and is slightly thick at that weight, lol). She went into heat before I had her spayed, partially due to procrastination, partially because I didn't know how old she was due to her small size, so she must have been 7 or 8 months old by the time I got it done. She's just little .

 

[GalaxyGirl]

Rocket has always been tiny. I got her at 3/4 months old and she was just a smidgen over a pound. Bad nutrition and losing her Mom too young on the streets probably permanently stunted her.... Or she was just meant to be small. I didn't delay her spaying for growth issues, she had a bunch of health scares and concerns so we delayed to make sure she was healthy enough.

It was recommended by my cat only vet because like your kitty she was neglected. And the vet didn’t want to risk anything until she was healthy. They didn’t even vaccine her until she was pretty strong. She was extremely underweight at 3 months when I found her 1.5 pounds and she almost died due to fatty liver. We found her on deaths door.

 

[Kieka]

It was recommended by my cat only vet because like your kitty she was neglected. And the vet didn’t want to risk anything until she was healthy. They didn’t even vaccine her until she was pretty strong. She was extremely underweight at 3 months when I found her 1.5 pounds and she almost died due to fatty liver. We found her on deaths door.

My girl wasn't at death's door but the rest of her litter did die two days after we took her in (heat wave). But her mom vanished when she was about 4 weeks old and she was raised by an older Tom in the colony. Once she joined us she was sick about twice a month with pretty much every minor kitten hood illness there is.

 

[lutece]

Neutering and spaying impact hormones and delays the signals to the body to close long bone growth. Which means an early neutered or spayed cat will be slightly longer then they would be if they have been unaltered.

Early neuter has a slight effect of delaying growth plate closure for male cats, but apparently this is not true for females... early spay doesn't seem to make any difference in growth plate closure.
Reference (2014 study): Effect of neutering and breed on femoral and tibial physeal closure times in male and female domestic cats. - PubMed - NCBI