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.
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Things You'll Need
- Cat toys
- Extra time and attention to devote to your cat
- Funds to cover veterinarian fees (optional)
Instructions
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Tips & Warnings
Do not spay a cat that is younger than 6 months or is currently in heat.
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Comments
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I have a problem with this article and my vets practice of waiting till 6 months to have a kitten spayed. Really why? My barely 5 month old kitten has just gone into heat. We are not getting any sleep at night and she is crying all day and all night. Can she be spayed while in heat? I have read not to do that though. We love our little Lily and she can't have kittens as she is Feline leukemia positive. Now what...
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Anonymous
Nov 25, 2011
my poor lilly is constantly in heat lol I'm about to get her spayed because I have 3 female cats all together including lilly and I don't need any babies. -
my poor lilly is constantly in heat lol I'm about to get her spayed because I have 3 female cats all together including lilly and I don't need any babies.
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my lucy is 7 month old and she is in heat allready and we wont be able to spray here unitl jan so we have to put up with her crying unilt then it makes me cry when she crys like that makes me feel horney too lol.
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TOTALLY agree with Catarzyna's comments below. Recommending that people allow their cats to breed is appalling and outrageous. Animal shelters are already bursting at the seams and killing literally MILLIONS of beautiful, healthy cats whose only "crime" was to have been born! Given that one female cat & her offspring can reproduce up to 400,000 cats in 7 years, the only right answer here is to have the cat spayed.
