1) What is "in heat"?
The fertile period of a female cat's reproductive cycle (the mating
period) is called estrus, commonly referred to as "heat or
being "in season". It's equivalent to human menstruation.
2) When does a cat come
into heat?
The average female cat has her first cycle at about 6 months
of age.
3) What are the symptoms?
Females bleed from the vagina sometimes with swelling of the
vulva and increased urination. Cats bleed less than dogs, and rarely
will you see any signs of it.
Cats in heat will be more affectionate & more vocal. They will
roll around on the ground and rub up against you incessantly. Other
than behavioral changes, the most noticeable symptom may be male
cats hanging around your house.
4) How long are cats in
heat?
They may stay in heat from a few days up to 3 weeks. How long
depends on many variables such as genetics, environment and cat
health & age.
5) How often will she be
in heat?
Cats go into heat most often in spring & fall. During this
period a cat can perpetually go in & out of heat until she is
bred or spayed, usually about every other week.
6) Can she get pregnant
her first cycle?
Yes. However, most breeders generally would not breed a cat
that early. After the cat has reached a year old and gone through
a few heats is the best time. They are physically & emotionally
mature enough to handle motherhood.
7) What age can I have my
cat spayed?
People used to be told to let their cat go through at least
one cycle or let them have one litter. Today, veterinarians are
doing it much earlier. Some spay as early as 5-6 weeks of age! The
most common age is at 6 months.
Cats can be spayed at any time during their life with the only concern
being the natural risks involved with surgery on an aging cat.
8) Can I have her spayed
while she's in heat?
it's a bit more complicated and most vets prefer to wait between
heat cycles.. Just check your vet's policy on this. They probably
can, but might charge a bit more as the risk of bleeding complications
is a little higher during the heat cycle.
9) My cat just had kittens.
When can she be spayed? Spay your cat about 2 weeks after the
kittens have been weaned.
10) How will the surgery
affect my cat? Cats that have not been spayed find the whole
estrus cycle uncomfortable. They are in a perpetual state of hormonal
flux, which can lead to irritability. Having her spayed will alleviate
some of these symptoms. Some cats might gain a little weight after
the procedure as the heat cycle tends to curb their appetite.
then we had her get spayed.
we kept 1 and gave the rest of them to other poeple.
my point is its otpinal to get your cat spayed.
althogh you really have to consider all the hard work and whats best for your cat.
$20.00 for a cat to get spayed?
lol yeah right
We are going to take her to the vet, she's now 5 months old now, to get her spayed and after she recovers get her micro-chipped. Animal Control costs $35.00 for the Micro-Chipping, unfortunately the cheapest we could find was $140.00 to get her spayed. We are doing it for her welfare, also just incase she ever does escape, at least there is no worry about her being euthanized!
One day a dumped cat turned up on our door-step and refused to leave and was desperately attempting to enter our home. She was extremely affectionate, but you could tell she was scared of being outside. We decided to take her into our garage and keep her there until we found an appropriate place to turn her over to that has a do-not-kill policy. The Animal Control, destroys unclaimed cats in 72 hours. No way in hell I am going to allow that happen to her. She was a very sweet and thankful (made it obvious) when we gave her food, water and a make-shift litter-box. We thought she was pregnant and told the Humane Society that and they asked me if I could drop her off at a vet. Anyways, when we did a follow-up to see how she was doing. The office told us that she already had her babies and I thought OMG, worried about her kittens needing her mom. They told me that she had them some time ago and that they're most likely already at the weaning stage. The Humane Society does have people that are foster families that take care of cats/dogs, etc... until they're adopted out. Their motto is.. we supply the food, you supply the love! On top of that, they fix and micro-chip the animals before adopting them out. They go for about $60.00 adults - $100 kittens! So if you're considering a pet, please look into going to your local Animal Shelter, Humane Society because it works out cheaper!
Last weekend 100 animals a day were turned in and only 25 to 35 were adopted out...guess what happened to the rest.
Liters of kittens that are given away to friends and relitives usually end up on the street. Please be a responsible cat owner.
Yes, everyone should spay their pets, but there should be a way for folks who can't afford $200+ to get it done cheaper.
To everyone else on this post, if you're not a licensed breeder with a cat coming from an excellent line that repeatedly does well at show, then you have no business keeping it intact. Its not a mutilation to spay/neuter your cats & in many cases extends their lives & prevents a lot of diseases. The world is full of cats that need homes. So if you're not dedicated to maintaining a high standard in a particular breed & only breeding litters when you have a list of people that you've personally vetted/interviewed who want kittens--then don't let your cats breed. This is just common sense people--really. Where I live, all intact kittens must only be sold to other registered breeders & we generally have any that are going home with non-breeders either de-sexed beforehand at 12 wks or have it provided in the purchasing contract for them to be de-sexed by a certain age. (And you better believe we check to make sure it was done--we have no desire to have any kittens produced from one of ours that we disqualified from being breeding stock due to any defects.) The goal of any breeder should be to produce high quality, good tempered, healthy kittens that closely follow the standard of their breed--all of which go to good homes. That should supersede any other reason for breeding (e.g. finances, etc).
So, if you want a cat as just a pet that's not of a particular breed--go adopt!! I have two rescued cats in addition to my cattery & they are every bit as cherished as my best queen! And for heaven's sake--get the adopted cats de-sexed so they aren't breeding randomly & contributing to the current over-abundance of kittens born that end up in shelters! (And no, teaching little Susie/Johnny about reproduction by having a random litter isn't a good idea either--there are other ways to do that).
I rescued a registed persian from a cattery that had sold it to someone for 400.It was 7 mos weighed 3.7lbs, severily matted, covered in cat urine and very sick, let alone ear mites so bad they were outside the ears. He is fine now after lots of vet visits and also fixed. I put him in a baby pack and carried him around for one week and had to force feed him for 3 days, he survived and is doing great now.
PEOPLE GET YOUR ANIMALS FIXED...DUH
plz help?
Not only is it the humane thing to do for the cat and for the overpopulation (one unspayed cat and all their unspayed offspring can produce 700.000 cats in 7 years )but also for yourself! unspayed unneutered cats howl spray and go crazy (because of all their hormones) Do yourself a favor.If you can;t afoord it get a SNIP voucher from your local humane society or google lowspay clinics in your state.
I am a mother of two kittens. The mother was a stray and she had a litter of four in the parking lot of where I work. She was taking good care of them but the actual animal control came. They were going to take the kittens and 'put them down'. I took two and my co-worker took the other two.
THERE IS NO MORE ROOM IN NON-KILL SHELTERS!!! There are TOO many pets and not enough KIND people to take them in.
My kittens are the sweetest, most gentle cats I had EVER seen. But they would have been killed because STUPID PEOPLE REFUSE TO SPAY AND NEUTER THEIR PETS. and SELFISH PEOPLE TURN THE OTHER WAY WHEN THEY SEE SOMETHING THEY CAN EASILY CHANGE.
If you have stray in your community, GET THEM FIXED IF YOU CAN OR LIVE WITH THE FACT THAT THEIR KITTENS ARE DEAD BECAUSE OF YOU.
I was recently in Cairo, one of the first places where humans and cats started to 'cohabit.' Every morning, the air is filled with the Muslim call to prayer, every evening, with the feline call to mate. There are street cats everywhere- dirty, skinny and into garbage, darting in between traffic. I saw several dead kittens on the sidewalks or gutters every day, some from cars and some apparently killed by adult males. I saw no cat that looked older than 3 or 4 years.
Frequent unmated heat cycles take a physical toll on females- they're not just 'frisky,' they're hijacked by an overwhelming reproductive cycle. Allowing them to reproduce several times a year depletes the mother's health and produces kittens that are likely to end up euthanized. The humane option is to spay the female.
cats are not your bloody toys to do what you want there living things!!!!
give them a life and stop thinking of yourselves!
2. No person in their right mind should let a 6 month KITTEN get pregnant. That's an equivilant of a 13 year old girl. Use your heads!
3. Mama cats go through a lot of wear and tear raising babies non-stop. To all you folks that complain of the noise and the howling of your baby in heat, I say " Deal with it." You are trying to be kind but it's a hardship to the cat. Please get her spayed. She will be so much more comfortable. As for being in pain with all her vocalizations.....it's no different than humans in the bedroom. She's frustrated and she wants it!
Urinary tract infections are just a small part of the myriad of illnesses continuous heat can cause in a female cat.
PLEASE!!!!!!! Get your cat spayed.
Also just like every person, every cat is different. Some cats might mate with others when let outside, but my brotheres cat is so independent and so uptight she would never let another cat come within 10 ft of her. ( she's in love with the dog) so moral of the story is who are we to say there is overpopulation with certain animals when the human race can't even control there own population? Oh yeh and this goes to the lady who lock her cat in a cage and let other cats spray on her you are one f*** up individual who should never be allowed to care of other creatures because obviuosly you don't know how. And people dont let the so called vet's brainwashing you to thinking that if your animal dosen't get a certain shot or not getting the animal fixed will cause some illness, this is untrue.
You can't compare cats in heat, spaying/neutering and breeding to what humans go through. Humans don't feel the urge to procreate and have a DOZEN babies every year. I have a cat, who not even two months ago, had two kittens (I didn't know she wasn't spayed. I took her in from the cold). Now she's back IN HEAT, ready to make more. Actually, we both got lucky that she 'only' had two. It could've been a REAL litter of 5 or more. I believe she's only about 9 months old or so. I don't know about you, but I can't think of any women that I know that wants to get pregnant again TWO MONTHS after giving birth. In nature, there's 0 accountability. Cats and dogs aren't thinking about the CONSEQUENCES of getting pregnant and the lifelong burden of raising the offspring. Without human interaction, the world would be flooded with animals of all kinds. Sure, animals have been breeding throughout history, well before man started intervening. The flip side of that is that there were (are) natural enemies out there. Weather, predators, too large of a litter for mom to support, competing sires who killed offspring that's not theirs, environment, and germs are among many things that kept animal population down without human involvement.
Human 'spaying' is women simply KNOWING that they can't just go around getting pregnant without any regard. Human 'spaying' is condoms, birth control, and abstinence.
You think your actions were correct and you did the right thing? you have lost your mind you cruel, ignorant, woman. My 6m old female is in heat right now and we deal with it fine... why dont you try to potty train your animals so they dont pee all over your house, that probably already smells like a toilet
People who work with cats in shelters and animal control centers are aware of the significant problems resulting from overpopulation. Please do not take offence, but your personal experiences have made you biased, reasonably. But it is unreasonable to !@#$$ume that these instances are proof that spaying and neutering not only does not prevent cancer, but causes it: that would be unfounded.
Additionally, your comparison between cats and humans in the arena of fixing, or in most arenas, is not apt. I would note that a woman does not become relentlessly determined to procreate every year. In the face of human overpopulation, is it not reasonable to consider a smaller family ideal? In this way, we have the choice to control our reproduction. A cat does not.
Thank you.
You people are not loving and caring. You are heartless and cruel.:-(
You complain about what misery your cat is putting you through when she is in heat. WHAT THE HECK DO YOU THINK SHE IS GOING THROUGH??!!!>-( If you honestly cared at all you would never force your animal to endure that.
I cannot believe that anyone would think that if they have a litter they are better cats. Let me tell you, you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. My God do you know hat it takes from a cat to get pregnant, birth and maintain a litter? DO YOU HAVE ANY CLUE? There are literally millions of unwanted cats in the US alone, and you wish to add to this number by purposely mating your cat, or not getting it spayed?
SPAYING IS THE ONLY HUMANE, LOVING AND DECENT OPTION THERE IS!!1
kittens can go into heat as early as 4 months but the norm is 6 months.
im not a cat but "being in heat" is the same as a girl on her period. your cramps are annoying and sometimes mildly painful but you survive. the meowing and howling is to attract a male. you cant really DO anything about it.
before i got my cat i called an talked to several veterinary offices as well as researching on line. It is best to get them spayed around 2 months or before their first cylce.
cut down on the pet population! spay or neuter your pet! thank you bob barker :-)
The way to prevent your cat from going into heat is to spay. Most humane societies in your area provide clinics providing the service at a relatively low costs.
www.hsus.org/
how do i stop it>-(
Is there anything i can do to help my cat?
She is very loud and very annoying and spaying ISNOT an option..
HELP
thank you
I had called 2 weeks ago for a spaying appointment, but now if she is going into heat we will have to wait until that is over. I just wish the vet had had an appointment earlier.
I gave my cat rescue remedy to help cool her out a bit. Now she is sleeping.
There is nothing you can do except live through the heat and then have her spayed. Not good to have them spaying while they are in heat -- that can cause complications.
Just keep the doors locked and get industrial ear plugs for the meowing. The noise will p!@#$$ -- takes anywhere from 5-14 days for a cat to go out of heat once they are in it.
I feel so bad for her and my male cats who have been Neutered are getting annoyed with her bothering them.
Please help...I want to do something to help her.
She wants to go outside. She seems young, is very affectionate and is licking herself. Could she be in heat?
thank you