Cats in heat??

All country · #1 04/09/05, 09:09 AM

My cats are in heat. The signs are unmistakable. The are all scheduled to be spayed and the males are scheduled to be neutered at the same time. Our Vet. is considered the best in the area and it takes a while to get in to see him (except for emergency services). We have to book most appointments 3-4 months ahead. We only have these cats because they arrived 2 days before their Mama's scheduled appointment last summer and DH fell in love with them. I don't want any more kittens to arrive before their appointments. Anyway right now we have 4 young female cats in the house and will not let them out. They are well behaved, but 5 cats in the house is too many for me! Their appointment is 3 months away. I may consider taking them to a neuter scooter type service as it is less expensive and I can get them done sooner,but I am not real sure about the safety of these things.

So for my questions:

How long does their heat cycle last? I don't want to let them back outside too soon.

How often will they go thru their heat cycle so that I can watch for it?

Does anyone have experience with the neuter scooter type services?

Thank you in advance.

GoldenMom · #2 04/09/05, 12:02 PM

Cats are generally in heat for about 1 week and they go into heat about every 2-3 weeks typically. It seems like they are in heat constantly!!!! Obviously I've never used a low cost neuter service (I'm a vet, so I do my own critters), so I can't comment on their safety. I have seen a (very) few female cats who have had complications after being spayed by one of these places, but considering the volume of cats done by them I think I've only ended up having to see a small percentage of these cats. Perhaps if you called your regular vet and explained the situation you might could get your appointment sooner. Worth a shot at least. Good luck.

tltater · #3 04/09/05, 02:12 PM

I have taken my male cats to a low cost spay and nueter clinic in Ft.Wayne, IN and had not problems. With the females its a more intrusive surgery where with the males it's much more simple. I would suggest getting the males done first.

Tracy
Southwestern,NY

Meg Z · #4 04/09/05, 08:21 PM

Cats are what's called 'spontaneous ovulators'. They'll continue to go in and out of heat until they are bred, or spayed. As Goldenmom said, they go in, they go out, they go in...but it's awful hard to predict exactly when they are and aren't fertile. Your choices are fairly limited here. Put up with 5 cats yowling int he house for three months, or try out a spay service. Good luck to you!
Meg

marvella · #5 04/09/05, 08:42 PM

also check with your local animal shelter. ours has a "friends of the shelter" support group that does lots of fundraising throughout the year. they will spay or neuter any cat or dog, for free. all you have to do is apply, and they will fit you into the schedule, most often within the week. you even get to pick the vet, as all of our local vets will do it for cost. the only requirement to the owner is $8 for a mandatory rabies shot, as we find rabid animals several times every year here. they really do great work. maybe your shelter has a similar program.

AnnaS · #6 04/09/05, 09:07 PM

If this was some delicate orthopedic surgery, it would be worth waiting for an experienced vet. Spay/neuters are the bread and butter of small animal vets and even if the vets there are newly graduated DVMs, they will have had some practice. If they've been at neuter scooter for very long, they have enough experience to be spay experts themselves.

Don't get them spayed while they're in heat, though. Some vets have no problem doing that but the complications and bleeding are somewhat increased.

You can take them out of heat for a cycle. A cat will ovulate when she's mated, not before, and end the heat. You can borrow a tomcat who has been neutered for AT LEAST 6 months- a lot of them know what to do.