I have two kittens in the house, a male and a female (we definitely did not plan for that to happen, one was a stray rescue.) The female is younger than the male but neither has begun to exhibit any signs of puberty/hormones kicking in. The male is about 22 weeks, female 20 weeks old.
I know with dogs, the males can still have viable sperm up to a month after neutering and it can also take up to a month for the hormone levels to go down. I'm not totally sure if it's the same with cats but it seems likely... The male is getting neutered next week. My concern is whether there is a possibility of him impregnating the female after neutering. Do I need to keep them separated for several more weeks after the neuter? Since he hasn't shown any signs of puberty is there any chance he could still enter it after neutering since the hormones remain?
The other factor is the female's age. Although I've heard that it is possible for cats to become pregnant as early as 4 months old, she has not shown any signs of heat/puberty, and I know Maine Coons develop more slowly and tend to enter puberty late...(she still has all her baby teeth too.) My vet recommended to wait until 6 months at the earliest to get her spayed, and her breeder strongly advises not neutering until 7 months old.
So basically my question is whether I need to keep the kittens separated, and for how long after the neuter.
I know with dogs, the males can still have viable sperm up to a month after neutering and it can also take up to a month for the hormone levels to go down. I'm not totally sure if it's the same with cats but it seems likely... The male is getting neutered next week. My concern is whether there is a possibility of him impregnating the female after neutering. Do I need to keep them separated for several more weeks after the neuter? Since he hasn't shown any signs of puberty is there any chance he could still enter it after neutering since the hormones remain?
The other factor is the female's age. Although I've heard that it is possible for cats to become pregnant as early as 4 months old, she has not shown any signs of heat/puberty, and I know Maine Coons develop more slowly and tend to enter puberty late...(she still has all her baby teeth too.) My vet recommended to wait until 6 months at the earliest to get her spayed, and her breeder strongly advises not neutering until 7 months old.
So basically my question is whether I need to keep the kittens separated, and for how long after the neuter.