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At what age do female Maine Coon cats normally reach sexual maturity?
I'm not so interested in outlier statistics like "cats can get pregnant as early as 4 months of age."
Instead, I'm wondering, if a 6-month old female Maine Coon has exposure to intact male cats, is it more likely than not to mate and get pregnant?
I'm not an expert on specific cat breeds, but the average for cats as a whole is 6 months with prior research on the subject (this was long ago so unfortunately no sources come to mind, but everything I've read agrees with this) stating that Persians are late bloomers and are known to not reach sexual maturity until 12 months. And a quick Google search combined with the fact that Maine coons look similar to Persians makes me believe the average for the breed is 8-10 months (mainecooncentral.com). So I'd start paying careful attention to your cat at 7 months in case they mature earlier than this and maybe even be careful now because 6 months is the average for cats in general and so is possible for your cat to have her first heat soon.
But also, a female cat is not going to get pregnant unless they're in heat. So really you only need to be looking out for the signs of heat (such as loud calling, rolling on the ground, crouched on her belly with butt in the air, and especially a bunch of males gathering around her and not wanting to leave) and then keep her away from the males during this period. I have been told before that it is possible for a cat to get pregnant even when not in heat because they're induced ovulators (not sure how true that is), but in my experience if a cat's not in heat, then the males won't be interested in her and most importantly, she's not going to want to have sex with them (and therefore, no pregnancy).
The cat was born on Sept 11, 2022.
On June 13, 2023, the cat was lifting her rear into the air, indicating she was in heat. After 1-2 days of being outside with in-tact males, she was brought indoors away from the males and hasn't been outside since.
It's now July 22nd, 2023. She is clearly pregnant.
So I believe the cat was sexually mature at roughly 9 months.
