How to Deal With Cats in Heat

Your beautiful new female kitten is around 5 to 10 months old and is acting odd. After a few nights of listening to her yowl, you may figure out she's in heat and searching for a tomcat (un-neutered male cat). If you have a cat in heat, there are some things you can do to deal with it.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Watch for yowling, rolling around on the ground, arching tail, walking with stiff legs and rubbing backsides against everything. Since cats are nocturnal, most of this behavior is at night, and can be very disturbing. Many people in apartment complexes complain when their neighbor's cats goes into heat.

2. Keep an eye out for spraying or not using the litter box. Your cat's trying to let every male cat know through the smell of her urine that she's ready for breeding. You may need an enzymatic cleaner to clean up the urine.

3. Make sure you've gotten your kitten all of her shots before breeding her. Mama cats need to have good immune systems to pass to their kittens.

4. Get your cat spayed to prevent her from going into heat again. Your vet may charge more if she's over a year old, so try to get it done when she's still a kitten. You can also breed her, but after she has the kittens, if she's not spayed, she will go into heat again.

Tips & Warnings

• Female cats are basically always in heat and always ready to breed. If you don't want to breed your cat, do not allow her around other cats even if she's not acting like she's in heat.
• Consult your vet for more information.

[sarahx]

on 4/26/2008 i have two cats. We have the mother cat and her daughter. The mother cat is fixed and the younger one is not. She is in heat and her mother is now peeing on the carpet , in the bathroom, in the corner ....is this because she doesn't want to be around my other cats scent or what? Any info would be helpful!!!! Thankyou


Sarah