About My Cat In Heat

[l o t u s]

The cat I am living with, Medea (born May 2, 2015), is starting to go into heat. I live in an apartment complex, so I'm worried this is bothersome to other people. I have gone back and forth on the idea of getting her fixed - but I am so worried that it will kill the "cat" in her. I want her to be all she can be as a cat and a person. My parents have two felines, both are fixed. Both act strange - lazy, slightly overweight, and uninterested. Also, both are declawed. I will never declaw Medea. I also wish to allow her to keep her entire body as it is. I don't want to scar her. I don't ever wish for her to breed, as of now. Although, I have considered getting her a male companion. Of course, this would mean kittens I have no space to care for. I would not fix either cat.

I confessed this dilemma to a friend who has a cat and is a self-proclaimed expert on cats. She explained to me that, because being in heat creates anxiety, it is intelligent to spay your feline if you don't wish to breed her. I inquired whether spaying is damaging to the emotions and mentality of the cat, and she said it is not even remotely damaging. Still, I disagree. What about her spirit? Surely, she will experience trauma being taken to the vet and being cut open and healing, etc. I just don't want to put her through that. Still, though, I am in an apartment. Is she okay, being in heat, in such a small space? Sometimes she is out of control at night. I try to calm her down, and de-stress her by stroking her head and neck slowly. It works, sometimes. Sometimes, she runs away, or claws the hell out of me.

Should I spay Medea or let her keep herself entirely? I want her to be natural. I want her to live long. If she has kittens in the future - so what? I'll manage. Maybe keep one, but not all. She really is a brilliant cat. A picture is posted of her.





In the back of my mind I say, "Her name is Medea, she should NOT have kittens!"

Lol....

[Tobi]

Medea is so beautiful!

I had a male cat once late 70s. He was a wonderful cat but had periods when he literally went nuts. My husband and I saw him crawling round the perimeter of the room, growling and howling one day. He was about 18 months old at that time. We both had very little experience caring for an animal, and neither believed in spay/neuter in those days. We felt it would be taking some essential part of his Being away!
We took him to the vet. So worried about him! The vet gently explained the stress his hormones were putting him under, and recommended neutering. We were horrified. But things got worse, so we took our cat to be neutered. It didn't cost much. I was scared for him. I wanted a happy healthy energetic cat, not a great blob who was uninterested in life and only wanted to sleep/eat.

So he got neutered, and afterwards was completely 'himself'. His body shape didn't change. He still went out "on the razz" (don't know what the 'girls' thought of him but he was out exploring most of the time he was awake. I actually saw him doing some 'courting'!) And most importantly his high anxiety calmed right down, and he was relaxed and happy again.

Un-neutered he was behaving as if he was in a horror film. Neutered, he was so much more content. He never gained weight, kept active, and used to go with me for walks in the mountains!

If you don't want Medea to have kittens, then it is a strain for her to keep going through the heat cycle and not able to mate. The hormones can cause other things such as false pregnancy -which is basically a hormone overload. She could (I'm not saying she WILL -but she could) -in later life develop pyometra. That can be deadly.
Us humans can stay 'entire' and not get pyometra. Not every woman who hasn't had a hysterectomy develops pus in the womb, and deadly toxic overload! But cats and dogs are prone to it. Particularly dogs, but it happens in cats also.

I know....it seems unnatural to force such things on their natural state. But in their natural state without us, they would mate and breed, and live shorter lives.

I had an entire female dog. She was very healthy all her life. I didn't want to interfere, upset the 'balance' etc. Or put her through surgery for a non-emergency reason.
She developed pyometra. I acted fast and she had surgery, and so her kidneys seemed spared. Kidneys are affected negatively by the sudden toxic bloodstream overload from the infected womb.
But they weren't really. She did develop early stage kidney failure about a year later. That was also treated successfully. But then she got breast cancer. That also was treated successfully by radical surgery. But I think all those things took their toll on her, strong though she was.

[Berry]

We've had many cats over the years. All were neutered and spayed. The vets would recommend spaying at 6 months of age. They needed the hormones for development up to that age. The cats came in different size and temperament regardless of the neutering or spaying. People say that cats in heat will find ways to escape and that is a real danger. We adopted 2 cats and they were already fixed at 12 weeks which I think was a bit too early but it did not affect them at all. They are happy and very active. I trim their nails every 2 weeks or so. Medea is beautiful!

[Silver]

I agree with Tobi's take and experiences. A cat (or dog or ?) becomes overweight because of too much food and/or lack of exercise. I've owned cats (usually just one at a time) and all were spayed / neutered. When you live in an apartment, yeah, clearly no real room for a family to grow, whether human or animal. You are doing a great service to your small pets to have them spayed or neutered in such circumstances. Just think: If you don't spay, and you give the kittens away, you won't know for sure if they will go to 'good' homes or not. Why bring mostly unwanted little ones into the world if there is a choice.

Bob Barker always has the psa at the end of his game show - I believe he is spreading the news that it is a great kindness to spay / neuter your small house pets.

http://cdnstatic.visualizeus.com/thu...h.jpg?ts=93246

[Wandering_Star]

You're brushing off your friend's advice by dismissively calling her a "self-proclaimed cat expert," but she's right. What she's told you may not be what you want to hear, but in doing so you're not doing Medea any favors.

Repeatedly going into heat will be far more stressful for Medea than getting her spayed. And no, spaying won't diminish her "catness"--any more than getting a hysterectomy diminishes a human woman. Frankly, I think you're projecting your own personal anxieties and issues onto her--cats do have emotional lives, but they aren't like ours, and they don't intellectualize what happens to them.

I volunteer with a cat rescue, and I've seen cats lose a leg, or an eye--or both eyes--or their tail, or all their teeth. I've seen others who developed chronic conditions, or who suffered injuries that permanently hinder their mobility. I've seen cats who live with chronic pain. And they're all still cats, just as much as ever. Most incredibly, they quickly adjust to these kinds of new circumstances--ones that would have humans struggling to function and feeling a profound sense of loss.

That's because cats don't identify with their bodies the way humans do. They don't tell stories about what has happened to them, or long for a past when they were "complete," or anticipate a future when things will be better. They respond to what's happening to them here, now, in the moment, and accept what is without getting all in knots over it. Cats are Zen masters.

Seriously, spaying is nothing to a cat. I've stood there and watched it being done, and monitored cats through post-op recovery, and taken my own girls home following spay surgery. Long ago, I also let one cat go through three heat cycles before getting her fixed, and I'm never putting another cat (much less myself) through that again. Going into heat and not getting any relief, over and over again? That's stressful for the cat, and it will be stressful on you, too. In fact, I'll bet that within a few months, you won't be attaching so much mystical significance to Medea's reproductive organs; you'll just want to get some sleep without her howling and thrusting her butt in your face at random intervals throughout the night.

As for the idea of getting her an unaltered male companion, I'll be completely honest: that is just plain stupid. There's no other word for it. What are you going to do with the kittens? Do you have any idea how many kittens (and adult cats) suffer and die every year because of people who don't spay/neuter their cats? Are you going to be one of those people? Don't hand-wave this one with a vague "I'll deal with it"--because that's what pretty much everyone else who ends up disposing of unwanted kittens says. If you're not willing to take full responsibility for all the lives your actions might bring into this world, then get your cat spayed.

And what are you going to do when the tom starts spraying to mark his territory? How are you going to deal with him stinking up your apartment with his normal urine? I'm fostering a tom right now (well, okay--as of yesterday he's an ex-tom, but he's still got plenty of residual testosterone that has to work its way out). He's a sweetheart, but omigod my basement reeks. And he's not even urine marking; that's just from his litter box.

Look--I've spent years volunteering in animal rescue, working with people who try to mitigate even a tiny fraction of the suffering created by people who let their animals breed more unwanted animals. This is a personal hot-button issue for me; I admit it. But I've seen too many of the real-world consequences of the line of thinking you've expressed in your OP, and I cannot let it slide by without saying something. Animals are discarded, suffer and die every single day because of the line of thinking you're putting forth here. That's reality, and it's ugly and heartbreaking and it just never ends.

Get your cat spayed. If you love her, and you love cats, and you don't want to create more suffering in this world, get her spayed. Period. There is no viable argument against it.

That said, your parents' cats may be fat and lazy because they're overfed and understimulated, but cats also tend to sleep most of the day (they sleep from 14-16 hours/day). I've got four spayed females right now (ages 15, 8, 3, and 6 months), and while the 8-year-old is chubby and the 15-year-old is slowing down, they are all active, healthy, happy cats. Spaying them didn't kill their spirits, and it's spared them a huge amount of stress over the course of their lives.

My 6-month-old diva-superstar kitten just got spayed a couple of weeks ago, and while it meant one unpleasant day at the s/n clinic, she was over it and back to her normal, sassy self the next day. Emotionally wounded? Broken in spirit? Mourning her loss of bodily integrity? Hardly! She's as bright and feisty as ever.

And one final thing: if you want to be the best possible human for Medea, and meet her needs as a cat, and give her a happy life, you also need to learn something about cats, their behavior, and how they view the world and their relationship to you. Most cat owners haven't got a clue what makes their feline companions tick, so they treat them like dogs, or project human qualities onto them that don't apply at all.

A good place to start would be Jackson Galaxy's site; he's a former shelter worker who became an expert on cat behavior because humans' inability to understand why their cats behave as they do is why so many cats end up abandoned or in shelters in the first place. He has several books out, and a show called My Cat from Hell, but he's got a lot of free information on his site that's a good start.

tl;dr: Get your cat spayed.

[AlanN]

Had my cat spayed last month. Her personality has not changed at all. She's just as mad as ever.

[Silver]

Good one, AlanN.

Heck, I think even the Cesar Milan, the dog whisperer would agree: have that dam cat spayed!

P.S. I meant to say what a beauty she is.

[l o t u s]

Thank you everybody for the suggestions. I'll definitely get Medea fixed now. I kinda had a feeling I merely had some sort of insecurity about getting her fixed - projecting onto her. All is much clearer now. I'll check out Jackson Galaxy too.

[Nature Grows]

Cute cat lotus!

[CrystalSong]

The heat will calm down and she'll be back to her normal self soon. Heat lasts 3-14 days with a week being average. She'll most likely go into heat twice a year - usually spring and fall.

If you don't want to spray her then keep her inside and ride it out with her. If she goes outside she will get pregnant and she will turn into an escape artist trying to get outside to a male! So you're going to have to stay very sharp and alert coming and going out of your house and having guest while she's in heat, you'll have to stay sharp and alert while going on minimal sleep. Be warned she may come to see you as her Jailer during these bi-yearly spells.

If after a few times of going through Heat with her you decide you can't take it anymore and want to get her spade then most likely it will just stop the estrogen cycle with little effect on her. Most Likely. But not always, some cats have had complications and it does effect their personality.

Deveral years ago I did a healing on a very loving snuggly cat who after being spayed became a mean cat who would attack people and she's been that way for several years.
After several healings and removal of the trauma associated with it (going under anesthesia seemed to be what altered her personality, but there was physical damage inside her from the surgery also) she returned to her old loving snuggly trusting self she had been pre-surgery. Last time I spoke with the family she was still a gentle snuggler.