My cat is acting different

[olivekitty]

Hi everyone. My 5 month old baby Stella has been acting strange for the past couple of weeks (She has not been spayed yet, but it has been scheduled). It started when I went out of town for a week. My boyfriend told me that she was meowing nonstop and she was going into the basement and one time stayed down there for almost a whole day. he also told me that she escaped outside one day and was gone for about 8 hours, but when we first got her we let her out all the time and she never left our front yard. So I assumed that she was in heat. She still meows constantly, and has become a little standoffish - not to me, but towards my boyfriend, who she used to absolutely love. Today she got outside again, but we managed to catch her before she could get out of our yard. But she was very upset with us - when I tried to grab her she hissed and tried to bite me. I'm just concerned because she did not used to be like this. so my question is this: is this behavior a result of her being in heat, and will she go back to normal once she has been spayed?

 

[Columbine]

I think this behaviour is almost certainly hormone induced. She has one goal at the moment - sex. Cats in heat can be incredibly single minded. I'm sure that she'll settle down once she's been spayed, and her hormones have had a chance to stabilise. Remember that the change won't be instant though - it'll take a few weeks for her to fully level out.