Nursing cat in heat?

my cat Oreo had kittens last month and will be 4 weeks old soon. but she is acting like she is in heat and wont feed her kittens unless my son or myself lay her down and put the babies on her to nurse. but she is acting like she is in heat and is more interested in licking her genital area than feeding her kittens or caring for them. my other female,Kitty, has been helping groom them and sleep with them. but Oreo just goes around chirping or meowing, and when i pet her, her tail goes to the side, and she kicks her legs and her buts in the air. shes not acting like a mommy cat either. my male cat has also been doing nightly crying, and he has been trying to bite at and mount my other cats and the older kittens i have. so is this just a hormonal thing? or is it possible a nursing cat can go into heat?

Hi melbox

Yes, female cats go back into heat pretty quickly after giving birth. I've always found the average to be around 4-6 weeks after giving birth . But I do know of a cat once that when came back into heat two weeks after giving birth.

Nursing kittens doesn't stop them from coming back into heat, it's just a myth.

she started doing it right after they were born. my other cat Kitty had weened her kittens just before oreo had hers so kitty has been swatting her and makes her lay down with the kittens. kinda like Kitty is trying to discipline her.  oreo had 4 but 2 passed away at different times due to being premies. the other 2 have eye infections which are clearing up thanks to constant care. she doesnt do anything at all. doesnt make sure the kittens stay near their bed, she hardly feeds them at all and the kittens had to be put on canned cat food to make sure they get enuff to eat. she acted like a mom for about a week after they were born, but then just acts like she wants my other cats to care for them.its frustrating. i think part of it is becuz when i got oreo, she was an abandoned kitten who was about 4 weeks old herself and she has infantile syndrome.shes not going the house house flopping around or screaming and howling, but i think shes in heat.

She likely is in heat. Also, you may know this but your cats do not have to visibly be in heat to get pregnant.

Are you planning to get any of them fixed?

my male is scheduled to be fixed. but she is normally very aggressive when in heat. she bites and claws at everything and everybody, and screams and howls and tears thru the house like mad. shes not acting like shes in heat now. i assume it might just be hormonal. but my male has been hiding from her and wont go near her so im not really worried. im just worried that if she continues to not frequently feed them like she should, that her milk will dry up and i'll be bottle feeding the kittens.

You can start putting kitten food mush out for them and seeing if they go for it. They really shouldn't need to be bottle-fed or nursing solely for much longer.

Just curious - why do you not want to neuter your females?

the kittens are eating the soft food pretty well. but i have 2 adult females, a female kitten, an adult male, and a male kitten. where i live it is very expensive to get females fixed. its much cheaper to fix the males. where i live it costs $40- $60 to fix a male. and it costs between $200 and $300 or more to fix a female. both my adult females had kittens with my adult male. also, both my adult females were rescues and due to their mental state and physical issues, i am unable to get them fixed. the only reason my male got my females pregnant was becuz he got Kitty pregnant thru the pet crate when she was in heat and i had scheduled to get her fixed. she had her kittens on aug 31st  of last yr. and he got Oreo pregnant before she was even close to being in heat. he pretty much raped her and i didnt know she was even pregnant until i found kittens. she had them too early and they were wee little things. i dont let my cats outside. the only one who goes outside is Morris becuz he was 100% feral when i got him. but he doesnt get unsupervised time outdoors. and never strays from porch. and i am keeping the 2 kittens. i didnt even rehome the kittens from Kitty until they were 18 weeks becuz Kitty didnt fully ween them til they were 16 weeks. and my vet and other vets in my area said that 14 to 16 weeks is when the kittens have a good immune system and are fully weened. 

This does sound like a challenging situation with pros / cons. I do wonder whether the stress of being in heat and having hormone surges is especially challenging for your cats. I also wonder if there is some way you could work with your vet to make the experience of spaying less stressful, if you did want to go that route. Maybe an anti-anxiety med ahead of time?

Morris probably didn't rape your girl cat - they can have silent heats and are also induced ovulators, so often ovulate upon mating. Mating isn't a pleasant experience for cats all around, especially females.

You live in a fair-sized city, so you should be able to find a vet or clinic that does lower-cost spays. It's not healthy for them to be in heat all the time, and there's always the chance of one of the females getting out by accident. It's also not good for their mental health to have hormone swings all the time. So even if the males are neutered, the females still need to be spayed. Try calling all the animal welfare groups in the area to see if they know of a lower-cost option for you. They may have suggestions about getting them to the vet with a minimum of trauma for everybody.

It's great to keep the kittens until they're older, but keep in mind that female kittens can become fertile as young as 14-16 weeks! So be careful. Also, sperm can hide in the tubes for a few weeks after neutering a male, so don't let your boy near the girls for at least 2-3 weeks after he's neutered. Make sure the little male gets neutered before he's fertile, too (not usually before 6 months for males, but there are sometimes early bloomers!).

Tomcats do sometimes "rape" females. The thing about cats is that the act of mating, whether she's in heat or not, stimulates ovulation, so females can get pregnant at pretty much any time. If a dog mates when she's not in heat, she won't get pregnant, but a cat will. It's just the way they are. That's why it's so easy for the population to get out of control.

hes schedules soon to be fixed. the poor guy has beem having frequent utis ad he had bladder stones. had to wait til he was cleared up. hes almost 2 yrs old and still never sprayed. but still getting him fixed. i can handle females in heat but they will get fixed after hes fixed. 

As others have said it's likely she is in heat. How are the kittens doing? Do they seem to be getting enough food? Are they gaining weight at a normal rate? What do they weigh now?

It sounds like you may be doing this, but please keep your cats separated until you get your male fixed.  It sounds like from your posts that they are freely interacting with one another and if that is the case it is very likely she is going to be pregnant again soon. To say this would be unhealthy for her so soon after this pregnancy is an understatement.  It is also not healthy for cats to be in heat over and over as was said above- it increases their chance for a variety of medical problems, including cancer. I am glad you plan to get your male fixed soon, but I'd really highly encourage you to look around and see if there is somewhere that would offer low cost spay for your females too- you may be able to handle them being in heat, but that doesn't mean it's healthy for them. Please see this article for more info: http://www.thecatsite.com/a/spay-and-neuter-your-cats

In terms of low cost spay/neuter near you, in less than 3 minutes I was able to find the following places. These websites also have more information about the health and other benefits of spaying and neutering.These places charge well under the $200-300 you quote above for a spay:

https://www.charlestonanimalsociety.org/spay-neuter/

charlestonspayneuter.com/

www.pethelpers.org/veterinary/

www.lowcountrypet.com/

and these two sites which exist solely to help you find other places close to you:

www.dogloversdigest.com/south-carolina-low-cost-spayneuter-resources/

spaywv.org/clinic-find/

Good luck!

i had mommy and kittens at vet and vet said its a hormonal imbalance and not to worry. the kittens are plump and healthy. a little on the tiny side becuz they were born too early. what helps is that since oreo is technically immature due to her infantile syndrome, my other cats and older kittens have been helping with the grooming and stuff. my male has not tried to mate with oreo or any of the others. he does have a closeness to one of his daughters but he mainly just sleeps with her and plays with her. all the cats get along.  he has since stopped his persistant humping things. which he only tends to do mainly around this time of yr. but the most sffordable thing i can do at this time is get him fixed. i think my kitty is now too old to even get pregnant. and oreo will be fixed when she has weened her kittens. 

If Kitty just had a litter she is probably not too old to get pregnant.  And I wouldn't leave them unattended until a few weeks after Morris is neutered.  It's a big risk.

Glad you are going to get them all sorted out though.  Please post pictures of the gang when you can.

I really would keep your male separate.  I don't mean to be overly pushy but I really think you are making a mistake by allowing him to freely interact with the unspayed females while still intact. Cats are also NEVER too old to get pregnant.  While their fertility may decline slightly over time, they never go through menopause like humans do and are capable of breeding at any time throughout their life.  Cats who are up to 30 years old (literally) have been documented as getting pregnant and having kittens. If your female cat is alive she is capable of getting pregnant. How old is the daughter your male cat is close to? Female cats as young as 4 months have become pregnant though that's not likely, but if she is older than 6  months it's very possible she can become pregnant, and if she is older than 9 months it is certain she can.

I knew a cat who got pregnant at 15! She was a housecat her whole life so they didn't see the need to spay, and then when she was that age they thought she was too old to get pregnant, and let her sit on the porch. . .well, a tomcat found her! Cats don't go through menopause like humans. Plus, you don't always see cats mate---they might do it in the middle of the night or when you're not home. Cats are very fertile. There's a reason there are so many cats in this world .

Anyway, I'd hate for you to get in over your head with every female pregnant at once, having 30 kittens all at the same time . Some of us have seen this happen to people, so that's why we like to let everyone know what the risks are. It's very easy for things to get out of hand.

My childhood cat growing up was 16 yrs when she passed away. She went thru menopause tho around age 12. She was never fixed becuz she was a feral kitten when she was found and we lived in the country on a farm and the cats kept mice and rats away. She bled from her private area the whole time she went thru menopause. I guess all cats are different. Same as when My Oreo goes into heat she is very aggressive and attacks all who touch and screams and howls worse than I've ever heard. But Kitty goes thru silent heat and just acts more affectionate and chirps when petted.

Kitty had her kittens at the end of August. They r 5 months old and she hasn't gone back into heat. She hasn't been in heat since last May. Oreo was raped by Morris in nov and had her kittens the 1st week of January.

Cats don't go through menopause. She may have had some sort of infection to cause the bleeding or have been pregnant and miscarried. I think it's great your are getting your male fixed, and any male kittens need to be fixed as well. I would definitely talk to your vet about how your female cats would do with a spay even if you find a low cost clinic to do it as it really is beneficial for them to be fixed. Sounds like you kittens are doing great though!

melbox said:

My childhood cat growing up was 16 yrs when she passed away. She went thru menopause tho around age 12. She was never fixed becuz she was a feral kitten when she was found and we lived in the country on a farm and the cats kept mice and rats away. She bled from her private area the whole time she went thru menopause. I guess all cats are different. Same as when My Oreo goes into heat she is very aggressive and attacks all who touch and screams and howls worse than I've ever heard. But Kitty goes thru silent heat and just acts more affectionate and chirps when petted.

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Yikes! Cats should never bleed from their private parts. They aren't like dogs or humans. I suspect she had something go wrong that caused her to become infertile. Good thing she lived through it! That's not normal though.

But, yeah, every cat is different as to how being in heat will affect her. My first cat went into heat at 5 months and howled and screamed for 3 months straight (the earliest we could get her in to be spayed, because we lived overseas)---we almost went crazy! Whereas her sister didn't go into heat until 7 months and she just rolled around flirtatiously. Which was a nice change! :lol3: And I had one kitten go into heat right at 16 weeks, but my most recent addition didn't go into heat until 8 months. . .you just never know.

Oreo has not shown anymore heat symptoms. but she has now completely stopped feeding the kittens. ifthey go to feed, she kicks and pushes them away. but shes still cleaning them and laying with them. they are doing well on soft food and have been drinking water and are very healthy and active.