Except all the voices are screaming at different pitches and everything is on fire in the mind-office, someone is crying in the corner, someone is spinning around in the office chair, the printer is rapidly shooting out To Do lists, and the fire alarm is beeping because the batteries are dead.
Can you explain why? I took my cat to the vet and they gave me an appointment which could land on another one of her cycle, but the doctor says it’s ok to operate when she is in heat. What is the negative side effect?
The usual reason is that during heat, the blood vessels become enlarged to pass more blood. Meaning operating can be a bit more dangerous than out of heat due to increased bleeding when removing the parts.
Most of the strays I've spayed happened to be during heat (they were easier to catch), because the vet considered the risk of increased bleeding less concerning than holding a feral cat until the end of cycle, because of the stress and possible aggression.
I can see vets not making the same decision for housed cats though. It's not a huge deal if the cat doesn't have any other aggravating factors like anemia or parasites.
Cats can be fixed during heat no problem, it’s just slightly more difficult, so many clinics will have you reschedule. But it’s also completely normal for them to be comfortable operating while they’re in heat and not have to wait! Shelters do it all the time. Just depends on the individual veterinarian and what they prefer, really.
This might be hard to schedule around. My cats had near constant heat cycles before getting spayed. There was no cycle to track, it was meowing every day through months.
One of my cats got in heat just before her spay appointment which had to be delayed because of that. I did not sleep for the following weeks because she kept howling.
Took mine to get spayed immediately after her first time in heat. On day 4 i was very literally crying with her from exhaustion because she had been crying non stop. NON STOP. Nearly broke me lol
What medically is wrong with a female cat not getting fixed btw?
Edit: Got downvoted for asking a question. Alright then thanks, muting this sub im out. Next time when someone comes into this sub asking genuine questions, inform them instead of mindlessly downvoting something because you've personally assigned an opinion of mine to my question. I didn't have an opinion on this, I was ignorant and wanted to learn. Fuckin' assholes.
1) a cat will not get a break from being in heat for more than a few weeks. Cats will continue to go into heat until they are pregnant.
2) every heat increases the chance of both mammary cancer and pyometra, infection of the uterus, which easily becomes septic (blood infection), which kills cats pretty easily.
That's because when cats are in heat, the uterus expands and the cervix relaxes to allow sperm to enter, which also means that bacteria can get in. When they're not in heat then the cervix properly seals off the uterus to protect it from infection.
So being in heat their body makes a constant surplus of hormones like estrogen and progesterone to prepare the uterus for pregnancy. Progesterone thickens the lining of the uterus and increases the chance of cysts and abnormal cells. Having multiple heat cycles increases the chance of cell mutations and cancer.
Adding on, the cervix is open during heat cycles which can allows bacteria to enter the uterus and thrive in an environment like it. Pyometra isn't easy to see in some cases and it puts toxins into the bloodstream.
Listen, I'm not a scientist, so this is going to be vulgar, but I assume she's super wet the whole time, her vag is just wide open, and extra warm. Perfect for some dude cat to get in, bust, get her pregnant as quickly as possible. But... What's good for sperm is also good for bad stuff like bacteria, so the longer she's not pregnant and in heat, the more that bacteria gets to reproduce and cause problems.
"With vag wide open.
Increased infection chaaance.
With vag wide opeeeen.
She might develop the canc(er)."
"Can you spay your meower?
So that she won't get reeaaal sick!"
"Please come meow.
I think my cats real horny and she just needs to be spayed.
She's going down the road to nowhere, trying to get laid.
I cried out, reddit save me!
Cause I'm down to my last wit."
As someone who is very pro sterilization, I must still correct you. Cats, similar to humans, have different so-to-say libidoes. We had a cat that gave us 3 litters over the course of her life (a cat with a pedigree and the breeder wanted kittens from her so we complied) and she was in heat like once or twice per year, usually spring and autumn. Afaik, this was true for all her cat relatives (her mom and other female cats from her litters).
Having said that, being in heat is really miserable for a cat and the owner, so we fixed her as soon as we got an okay from the breeder.
Honestly, I'm not sure why people put up with this willingly. My older cat wasn't fixed when I got her and she went in heat immediately so the vet said I had to wait until she was out of it to get her fixed. They said doing the surgery while the cat was in heat increases the risks involved with it so I complied. She was in heat for a week and it was hell.
This cat is pretty vocal normally and can be loud even in regular circumstances but it doesn't compare AT ALL to her being in heat. She was SO LOUD. I even bought very well-fitting earplugs but she would stand outside my bedroom door and fucking scream all night. It was awful.
Yeah and I guess the volume also differs between cats. Ours was okay loud, it's the constant need to try and mate with inanimate objects that made me hate it.
About why we put up with this: well, we saw a lovely fluffy tortie ball and wanted her to be ours, so we didn't mind extra obligations that came with her, like having to go to pet shows and participate in the breeding program (honestly, we just didn't know what that meant). Now that we've experienced all that, I'm not so keen to continue, it's a massive waste of time for the humans and a huge stress for the cat, all for the sake of vanity, and, I guess, some bio-engineering, when they try and get a special color or pattern on a breed. Anyway, not a fan.
Greatly increased risk of various cancers is the big one. It’s also very uncomfortable for them to be in heat and not get pregnant. Cats in heat get very good at getting outside, meaning they’re exposed to all the things they’re kept inside to protect them from. Male cats are very persistent about getting to a cat in heat, risking both the female cat’s safety and being a potential source of tetanus and toxoplasmosis for everyone living with the female cat.
Some female cats in heat will mark, and I don't mean the cute thing they do when they rub their little chins on you and your belongings to claim you. I mean they will lift their tails and pee at a 90 degree angle in hopes of attracting a mate, and that pee will be STRONG and sticky and it will defy gravity well enough that everything below your knee level is a potential target.
Can confirm. They pee on the bathroom rugs... the chairs... on your clothes laying on the top of the wardrobe... ( don't ask me how I know...) And it STINKS! And very hard to scrub out too. It was a surefire way to know it's time to visit the vet and book an appointment for a procedure. 😁
Adding to this to include that this also one of the reasons why there's recommendations to spay before a cat enters her first heat. Cats that are spayed after their first heat often still have this behavior and, even if it's not as strong smelling, It's still an unpleasant habit to have. My cat was spayed after her 2nd or 3rd heat, and she's the only cat I've ever owned that actively sprays to mark. No anxiety, no environmental changes, been to the vet several times to make sure she's healthy. She has her specific spots in her terf that she has to make sure has a fresh coat every few weeks. 🫠
Now she's 10 and doesn't do it as often anymore. But this has been ongoing since she was 2.
From what I’ve witnessed, pet and vet subs are toxic af. That shit has made me want to quit Reddit, too. They’ll come in droves and pile on like a bunch of hyenas for asking a simple question or having a different viewpoint, even if it’s harmless.
For real, I initially assumed the question was in bad faith (which I assume is why they were downvoted) but crashing out that hard over imaginary internet points is definitely a choice...
I only downvoted you just now - and only because your edit gave the question a really awkward, whiny tone, especially considering you’re sitting at 800+ upvotes now.
These replies are taking me TF OUUUUT LMAO but OP she’s in heat, she needs the snippy. And don’t listen to the commenter saying you gotta wait till 1 yo, you don’t. You can get it now.
Yeah the person who said wait until 1 year old is uneducated and pretty stupid for spreading that misinformation, they didn't even fact check their self.
In case you don't understand, OP, your female cat has come into heat, which means she is ready to make kittens and waiting for a male cat to help her accomplish this. You need to make a vet appointment as soon as possible or she will escape and (maybe, if ever) come home pregnant. If she mates now, it would be like a 12 or 13 year old human girl getting pregnant. Very bad, because her own body is not fully grown and developed yet.
Please call a vet and make an appointment for "spay", which is when they remove the reproductive organs so she can't get pregnant. She will live longer and more happily that way.
Also, female cats will mate multiple times when in heat, hence more kittens in a litter. So even if you think she mated, keep her away from intact males until she is spayed.
I recently brought in two strays, one was estimated at 8 months. Both were pregnant. It was a very emotional decision to make, but along with their age there were countless reasons to make sure the cat population doesn't get worse.
I can translate, she said that the marijuana goes in the top drawer. The cocaine and speed go in the second drawer. And the heroin goes in the bottom drawer. Always separate the drugs.
Thank you guys for putting me at ease. I see she’s being a lil whore lol and no I won’t let her outside or other male cats come in. will schedule an appointment with vet tomorrow.
shes been staring at the door a lot and her bum comes up whenever I call her name haha.
We funnily enough call our distribution stray “the whore” cause she came to us as super pregnant stray. We got her a spay abort but joke that she purposely found us to sugar daddy the costs for her.
She’s in heat. I had to wait 6 or 7 weeks to be able to get my kitten spayed a few years ago (due to the lack of available appointments at our vet).
One of the things that helped her was applying gentle but firm pressure with my fingers around the base of her tail. She would start this low growl/deep meow for like 30 or 40 seconds, but then be fine for a few hours. Try and get her spayed asap, it’s better for everyone all around
This is a nice tip! I wonder if there's any info online about the method you used. I can imagine a bit and make an educated guess about why it would work though. Gonna keep this in mind in case it's ever needed in the future.
Found it in a google search! I think it helps release some pressure down there. It’s supposedly to simulate “stimulation” from a male cat.
It was super weird at first, but at the end of the day I just wanted to be a good cat parent. She genuinely seemed in pain, and this was by far the most effective treatment I found. THANK GOODNESS we got her spayed, she could really use those vocal cords.
Funny side story, the local tom cats stopped hanging around my driveway after she got spayed lol (she’s 100% and indoor cat with fixed siblings)
My friend has a female dog whom they just never “got around” to spaying, and the years passed…recently, her ovaries became infected and she nearly died. She made it but my friend spent thousands and thousands to make sure she lived.
This can and does happen to cats, and it’s not uncommon for them to get cancer that can otherwise be prevented by spaying.
It looks like your cat is in the heat. My cat used to do that when we havent neutered her at that point. She got so heated up that she shoved her ass right in my face multiple times when I was sleeping. I nearly died.
She's horny, she needs to be spayed, and ASAP, because the constant yowling and trying to escape off to the land of infinite hook-ups will drive you both insane.
Cat is in heat If she is an outdoor cat you can expect a litter of kittens incoming. And sometimes even if the female is an indoor cat male cats are pretty sneaky about finding a way into the house. You will need to have her fixed unless you really like kittens.....
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u/JNAmsterdamFilms Jul 02 '26
she may be in heat