4 month old kitten in heat?

My sisters 4 month old female is acting like she is in heat. Is this possible to be in heat at such a young age?

She is yowling and putting her butt in the air...and rubbing on everything. It is uncharacteristic of her.

Any ideas?

Yep, she is in heat. Daphne came in right around that time, too; 4 1/2 months if I remember correctly. She wasn't very vocal but displayed all those actions. Seb knew it before I did.

Yes kittens as young as 4-5 months old can breed and can have kittens. So please get her to a vet for spaying ASAP and keep her inside so she doesn't get pregnant. Is she around any unneutered males - even a 4-5 month old MALE kitten can get her pregnant!

Originally Posted by GoldenKitty45

Yes kittens as young as 4-5 months old can breed and can have kittens. So please get her to a vet for spaying ASAP and keep her inside so she doesn't get pregnant. Is she around any unneutered males - even a 4-5 month old MALE kitten can get her pregnant!

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No no worries, she is a fully indoor cat and only shares a home with a puppy My sister is making her an appointment this week to get her spayed..

It was funny, my sister is like "how do I make it stop??"..I'm like "get her spayed " She was going to get her spayed anyway, but we figured 6 months, not 4!

Originally Posted by Trouts mom

No no worries, she is a fully indoor cat and only shares a home with a puppy

My sister is making her an appointment this week to get her spayed..

It was funny, my sister is like "how do I make it stop??"..I'm like "get her spayed

" She was going to get her spayed anyway, but we figured 6 months, not 4!

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It was a full moon the other day too. Molly always seemed to go in heat with the full moon. She loved getting her back scratched near the tail. LOL

Wow, that is scary how early they can go into heat. I'm glad my shelter got my kitties altered early (when they hit 2 lbs) so I didn't need to worry about it, because I would have thought you'd be safe waiting until 6 months, too!

Originally Posted by Trouts mom

It was funny, my sister is like "how do I make it stop??"..I'm like "get her spayed

" She was going to get her spayed anyway, but we figured 6 months, not 4!

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That's exactly what I thought! I was not at all prepared so soon.

I am afraid the same thing might happen to Lucy Belle - which is 11 weeks old now. I wanted to get her spayed early but my vet advise otherwise. He wanted Lucy Belle to grow and mature a little more and will perform the surgery when she is 6 months old. It appears to me that most of the old-school vet still thinks that 6 months is the correct time frame for the surgery.

He however, also cautioned that kittens as young as 5 months old can get in heat and if I ever see Lucy Belle exhibiting any behavior which seems *heat-like*, I should contact him immediately.

I did a few research myself and see no point why I should wait. But then again, I don't feel good pressuring my vet to do it now or going elsewhere to have the surgery performed as I still would like this vet to be Lucy Belle's medical care giver.

Mooch went into heat that early! Fortunately it didn't seem to last that long. Noodles kept looking at her like she had been abducted by aliens or something! Oh and she did that the weekend before her spay appointment!

o man i dont miss those days! It is possible, I too though thought i had some time, so when it happened I was freaking out luckily I came here for help and advice Stormie did it all that was my first and last heat cycle I will ever go through well ok they last short but they came every so often until her spay which was a month or so later (they were so booked that was the earliest appointment we could get) I must say though it got her to venture downstairs prior to the heat cycle she refused to go to the downstairs area she is a weirdo, who ever since then also loves loves to talk

I just got an adult female cat that acts that way. The shelter said she was spayed, but they lied about other things so now I'm worrying.

Stupid question: Do cats bleed when they are in heat? (I've never had a girl kitty before, so I seriously don't know)

I've never had a female "bleed" - they don't have a period like a human or dog, so they really don't bleed when in heat.

But the weird thing is that 20-30 yrs ago, it seems cats rarely came into heat before 6-7 months old and so most were not spayed till around then. I've had male and female cats (pedigree and mixed) and don't remember any of my breeding females coming into heat before 6-7 months old. I could leave brother and sister kittens together at age 4-6 months with no worries on getting pregnant.

My one breeding queen even would stay out of heat from about September to February EVERY year. So we bred her in the spring, had kittens by early summer and then they went to homes in the fall - and we didn't have to worry about a cat in heat for many months.

Now all of a sudden in the last 10 yrs or so, we are hearing about kittens 4-5 months old being in heat and/or pregnant if not kept inside?????

Sadly, GoldenKitty45, the same pattern has emerged with humans. Girls are getting their first periods at progressively earlier ages.

Its all the stuff they put into our foods that cause girls and kitties to go into heat earlier! My 5 y/o daughter started bleeding one day and I freaked out. The dr said its all the chemical & pesticides, antibiotics and stuff they feed the cows that causes them to have their cycles earlier!! I dont know if there is any way to get meat that doesn't have this stuff done to it, or vegtables for that matter or if this is just going to be the life cycle from now on!!

Originally Posted by glitch

Its all the stuff they put into our foods that cause girls and kitties to go into heat earlier! My 5 y/o daughter started bleeding one day and I freaked out. The dr said its all the chemical & pesticides, antibiotics and stuff they feed the cows that causes them to have their cycles earlier!! I dont know if there is any way to get meat that doesn't have this stuff done to it, or vegtables for that matter or if this is just going to be the life cycle from now on!!

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GO organic ... at least youll have the least possible of those things

Kandie went into heat at 14 weeks ... I was 11 and didnt have a clue but mom at least knew to call the vet who had Kandies spay on the books for her 6th month

Thanks Sharky! Ive tried some of the organic stuff! I like the milk so much more than regular milk! I will try the organic on what they have though!!

I agree that it could well be caused by increasing use of hormones in livestock production over the last decade or so. I get a lot of my cat food imported from Sweden where they have very strict agricultural regulation and where hormones and routinely given (rather than for clinical need) antibiotics are not used.

I have 2 siblings a male and female. I also was told 6 months. I'm noticing the female in heat today. I guess I will have to keep them seperated till we can get them both fixed. We had a appt but it got rescheduled cause the vets son had emergency surgery.

Yep definitely separate them and keep a close eye.  Can you call your vet and explain what is going on?  Maybe they can get you in sooner or with someone else.  From what all I've read on here; males retain some fertility for a few months after neutering (I'm not sure how long with kittens) so it's definitely important to get both done; but at least the girl, as soon as they can.  

Thunder went in heat at 5 months it's not uncommon.

dejolane