Noisy cat at night

I recently adopted a 1 year old female tabby from the local shelter, who has not been altered yet (we have an appointment to do so in 2 weeks).

For the last two days she has become quite noisey at night, constantly meowing and "yowling". How do I know if she is in heat or if this is a behavior problem? When we get her spayed, could this potentially ease the problem?

Sounds like she is in heat to me...make sure you keep an eye on her...she will probably try to get out.
I think once she is spayed she will stop this...
Lorien

If she is crouching low to the ground with her tail end high and yowling and trilling, she is in heat. Her urge to find a mate will be strong, so you need to be sure she cannot get outside, or you will find you might have more than one cat soon!

Thanks. Luckily she has not tryed to get out yet, but I am keeping an eye on her.

How often do cats go into heat?

The trick is to not let you cat go into heat and get her spayed quickly. Because of health issues mainly, as well as the kitten population that is so out of control.

It depends on where you live, as weather is a factor, but cats can go into heat 3-4 times a year. I know where our webmistress lives in Israel cats go in heat a lot more because of the warm climate.

Your shelter should have spayed her prior to adopting her out!

Thanks. We have an appointment to get her fixed in 2 weeks.