Cat In Heat

[SesiKesuke]

Hello! First and foremost I apologize if I am posting this in the wrong section (first time posting!)

I am a foster parent for our local shelter. Right now we have a mother cat named Doodle (I'd estimate her to be about a year and a half old) and 3 kittens (about 3-4 weeks now) that she is taking care of. The kittens' mother had passed away and Doodle had just finished nursing her litter of 6 so the shelter decided to put them in a home together to see if Doodle would care for them until they are able to go back to the shelter to get ready to find homes. We also have my 2 male cats (both almost 2 years old and both neutered) as well as a male 5 week old kitten we rescued about a week ago.

I am fairly certain that Doodle has just gone into heat. The past 2 days she has been VERY overly affectionate to not only us, but our two fixed males and has been yowling almost non stop. Normally I would juat wait it out, however I am concerned about 2 things:

1) As I have never owned an unfixed female- should I be concerned about the kittens she is looking after? I had debated on temporarily locking her in our spare bedroom, but would putting the kittens in there as well be safe or would is make the situation worse? Should I just temporarily seperate them since the kittens ARE eatting wet food and nursing less?

2) One of my male cats has become very stressed out since she went into heat (before this he, Doodle and the kittens were getting along great). He constantly hides, has become very skittish, will not eat unless I feed him seperate from Doodle (he is still ok with my other male being nearby), and is constantly running from Doodle as she keeps trying to 'love on him'. It has also caused him to start spraying, something he has NEVER done until now.

Any ideas on how to handle this? I plan to call our shelter, but they are unfortunately closed today. Any advice is very appreciated!

 

[Sarthur2]

Yikes! She needs to be spayed asap. Do let the rescue know. She can still nurse and mother the kittens after her spay.

I would put mom in a room to herself for now, and bring the kittens to her a few times a day. There's no need for your male cats to be exposed to this.

 

[tabbytom]

Hello SesiKesuke , on behalf of The Catsite community, I warmly welcome you to TCS

I'm tabbytom and I'm a Mentor here in Catsite. Feel free to ask questions if you have any in regards to getting around the site. I'm here to help


Here are some articles to read to help you get started with the site.

New Here? I Have A Few Suggestions For You!
Forum Rules
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Do check out the informative forum threads and also the many good reads in the Articles section too.

And lastly, do introduce yourself and your kitty to the community in New Cats on the Block and do post photos of your kitty for us to see

 

[Animal Freak]

I had a cat that showed up to our house and later we found out she was pregnant. She was extremely cat aggressive though so she mainly stayed in a separate room. I would say you could do this as well to give your boys a break. If possible, take turns letting someone get free range of the house and locking someone up. I wouldn't worry about the kittens though. She knows how to take care of them and they don't need her as much since they're being weaned. You can let the kittens out to socialize with the other cats. In fact, do this as much as possible. It's important to socialize them at a young age so they aren't skittish or scared later on. I can't help much on the matter of your male cat. I'm sure he's probably confused and stressed and a female in heat can make males act weird. But don't worry about the kittens. They'll be fine both away and with her at this point. I would keep them with her sometimes and keep them with the other cats at others.