I do believe I own a Maine Coon cat based on books I have read. My Otto a 2 year old neutered male is already 11 pounds. Can anyone give me advice on how big he will become? I feed him dry food which is readily available to him and my 2 other cats, who also have some Main Coon traits although they are female and are a lot smaller. He is a indoor cat who likes to exercise by chasing a laser point pen, especially late at night. However he also appears a lazy cat who likes to sleep during the day.

-- Anonymous, June 23, 1999

Answers

Although it can take a Maine Coon 3-5 years to fully mature, I don't think you are going to see a big gain in weight for your boy from what he is now. From my experience, most of their growing is in their first 12-18 months of age. Maybe he will gain a couple more pounds but, providing you keep exercising him and he doesn't simply get fat (which is nothing to do with his breed type but merely "ordinary fatness"!), he probably won't go beyond 13 lbs. If he does start getting fat and flabby you may have to stop his ability to feed freely all day and just give him 2 or 3 meals a day, taking up the dry food in-between. Female Maine Coons are normally 2-3 lbs. lighter than males. All cats sleep from about 16-18 hours per day!

-- Anonymous, June 24, 1999