How to Calm a Cat in Heat

A female cat will come into heat (called "estrus") at least three times a year for roughly 2 weeks. During each cycle, the cat will exhibit restless and agitated behavior. Dealing with a cat in heat can be challenging. This article will help you recognize if your cat is in heat and offer suggestions for soothing the symptoms.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Cat toys
• Extra time and attention to devote to your cat
• Funds to cover veterinarian fees (optional)

1. Identify if your cat is in heat. It is easy to recognize if a cat is in heat. Although cats do not experience vaginal discharge or swelling, they hold their tail to the side and raise their hind end. Cats also display agitated behavior, including hind-leg "treading" movements, floundering on the floor, calling out with a piercing voice and bestowing extra affection.

2. Calm your cat. The simplest way to calm a cat in heat is to devote extra physical attention to her. Petting, brushing and cuddling your cat will help satisfy her craving for sensory stimulation.

3. Help keep the cat busy. Cats in heat appear to have extra energy that can be assuaged with playful distractions. Provide your cat with new toys, preferably ones that will inspire her to jump toward or run after them.

4. Seek assistance from a veterinarian. Your cat's veterinarian can inject her with hormones or other medication that will prevent her from having a cycle. This choice may be preferable for owners of pedigreed breeders or those who want to stop the cycles temporarily.

5. To shorten the heat cycle, consider mating the cat. Unsuccessful mating will result in a 7- to 10-day cycle with another cycle recurring every 2 to 3 weeks. Successful mating will shorten the cycle to 4 days and prevent future cycles during the gestation period. Once the litter is born, another estrus cycle can occur within 1 to 6 weeks.

6. To permanently stop the heat cycle, spay your cat. In addition to preventing heat cycles, spaying can help protect cats against uterine infections and cancers, including breast cancer.

Tips & Warnings

• Do not spay a cat that is younger than 6 months or is currently in heat.

Resources

• For cat behavior articles, visit Westwood Animal Hospital.
• For a veterinarian's advice, visit Talk to the Vet.

[tryannw]

on 1/29/2009 Note that the overwhelming majority do not understand that there is an alternative to spaying - not spaying! If you keep your cat indoors, you do not have to spay her. Give her lots of love and attention at these tender moments and appreciate that you are experiencing the whole of the feline. If you only want a partial-cat, fully compatible with modern life, then fine, spay your cat. But I say - let us not push any more of our human weirdness onto other creatures. If you don't want the fullness of a cat or dog, don't get one. So....I'm thinking of removing my testicles so that I don't act too male and so my sexual desire will go away; we have too many people in the world anyway, and i'd be easier to deal with. Plus I wouldn't get testicular cancer. Better do it then.

[shelterdoc]

on 12/9/2008 As a professional shelter veterinarian, I object whole heartedly to the 5th note of "consider mating the cat to shorten the heat cycle." While it is true that the cat will not go into heat while pregnant or potentially nursing, consider the lives of the kittens and subsequently their kittens as "by-product" of a measly 3 months of peace. Please spay and neuter your cats and While the tips and warnings say no younger than 6months, it is common practice among the shelters in the country to spay and neuter as young as 6wks. Spaying prior to a first heat lessens the chance of some nasty cancers. Do your research!