Surely she can't be???

Keller came to me a few months ago with kittens and ringworm. She has since recovered from the RW but a few weeks later caught an URI. She has recovered from that but has started wandering the house crying. It started the last couple of days and she spent most of yesterday going from window to window crying. She is deaf so during the night it was pretty annoying. She also darted out the door but I caught her before she left the porch. She is not a very vocal cat so I worry that something is wrong. Things seem to be pointing to her being in heat
Is it possible when she is still nursing Macy and it's winter. I thought cats only go into heat in the spring
She is going to be spayed after the new year, the vet wanted to give her time to heal and for her immune system to recover. Also my pocket book, as both cats had to be treated for URIs on top of the RW treatment I paid for.

Could it be something else? I have tried playin with her before bed but truthfully she hasn't really been sleeping during the day, just wandering and crying.

Cats can go into heat while nursing and can go into heat in the winter. It's not as common, but it can definitely happen, especially for those cats that are mainly indoors.

Oh great, just what we need about now I have a baby that refuses to sleep and when we did finally get to sleep Keller started up again. The previous owner said she is 3 years old and that she had only had one heat, which resulted in the litter of kittens I got her with

Lock your doors and batten down the hatch! LOL

I remember years ago when my first cat, Tigger (now 16+) was in heat (back then, had to wait until 6 months to spay), she was relentless in her pursuit to get outside. She'd push the window screens out to get out. You'd have to totally watch her like a hawk when coming and going (the door to the outside of the house). Just be extra vigilant that she doesn't escape, make sure everyone who comes into your home, especially over the holidays (terrible time for cats to escape; company coming in and out, often not quick to close the door behind them) is warned, too.

Yes, it is heat! I opened the back door to feed the outside cats and put some medicine on poor Manson's back and there were 2 other toms sitting on the porch. All of the outside cats are fixed except for Manson so I will try and keep Keller locked up when we are coming and going. How long does this usually last?

It is extra important for us to not let her out as she is deaf and she can't hear cars or other prey coming.

Yes it is. Seems a lot of females are having more frequent heat cycles then they did 20-30 yrs ago. When I was breeding my rexes in early 90's, my girls stopped their heat cycles from Sept - January or February. And they NEVER came into heat when nursing.

Now many females can start calling again when the kittens are 6-8 weeks old! And seem to cycle a lot more often. That is why some breeders are having problems and losing their breeding females to pyro because they come into heat too soon after a litter and you can't just put them on hold for 6-9 months before you breed again.

What is pyro? Why is it they can't put off breeding for 6-9 months? She will be ok won't she? I have always fostered the end result but never really had a cat in heat before. It is rather annoying isn't it?

Her kitten is about 11-12 weeks old and she is refusing to nurse her today. Is that common once they come into heat? The kitten is old enough to be weaned but she is actually being kinda mean to her today.

Pyro (pyrometria) is infections in the uterus - most times the cats don't recover and you have to spay them. Its not like a urinary infection - its much worse.

There is no reliable "birth control" pill for cats as they are induced ovalators and release eggs when bred. And the meds they have tested are mixed results - mainly negative as the females sometimes will not get pregnant. So its not something you want to experiment on your prize winning females.

That's why a lot of breeders try to limit the number of litters since they cannot hold them off and you will find females only 2-3 yrs old that are "retired" from breeding. They care enough to not let them have a lot of litters.

Sound like typical behavior - mom doesn't want the babies around any more.