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Cat Forum / Health and Behavior / April 2004Cat in heat - behavior question
Hi there, This question is about the same cat as before, in the "Cat in heat question" thread. This cat has kittens that are now 9 weeks old, they are at my house awaiting their spay appts. Beetle is at the shelter also waiting for her spay appt, and is apparently in heat. Beetle has been adopted by a family, and they came to the shelter today to visit her. Beetle was NOT herself. She's normally very friendly, loves to be held. Today she was hissing and swatting. We chalked it all up to "a bad day", and they are still interested in adopting her, but were a little concerned. They need a very friendly, easy-going cat, as they have a one-year old child. Could being in heat cause her behavior change? Should she return to normal after her spaying?  Signature-Kelly kelly at farringtons dot net Check out www.snittens.com >Could being in >heat cause her behavior change? Should she return to normal after her >spaying? Yes. She needs to be spayed now or the people may shy away from adopting her. You can spay a cat in heat. You can even spay a pregnant cat. > >Could being in > >heat cause her behavior change? Should she return to normal after her > >spaying? > > Yes. She needs to be spayed now or the people may shy away from adopting her. > You can spay a cat in heat. You can even spay a pregnant cat. One of the other volunteers and I went to check her out today. We took her temp, just to make sure she didn't have an infection, and felt her underside to see if maybe she was engorged. She feels pretty empty, so we are going to have her spayed Tues, hold her for a couple days to observe, and if everything goes well, she can go home. Signature-Kelly kelly at farringtons dot net Check out www.snittens.com Kelly wrote: >She's normally very friendly, loves to be >held. Today she was hissing and swatting. [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] >cause her behavior change? Should she >return to normal after her spaying? When you consider the fact that A) she is in heat B) she is now out of your comfortable home and in a shelter situation, which is extremly stressful and C) she is dealing with the discomfort of her milk drying up it should come as no surprise that this little girl is cranky. Once she is spayed and out of the shelter in a less stressful environment, she should be better. I would caution that you reinforce to the people adopting her to never allow their child alone with her unsupervised and start right away teaching the child to be gentle when allowed to handle her specifically because you have seen how this cat reacts to stress. Let's face it, young kids ARE stressful and I doubt these parents have much, if any, experience having young children and cats together so it's very important to underline the right approach so they don't make mistakes which result in the return of the cat later. Megan Signature"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." -Edmund Burke Learn The TRUTH About Declawing http://www.stopdeclaw.com Zuzu's Cats Photo Album: http://www.PictureTrail.com/zuzu22 "Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way." - W.H. Murray > When you consider the fact that > A) she is in heat [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > and out of the shelter in a less stressful environment, she should be > better. I actually didn't want to bring her into the shelter this soon. I would have preferred to let the kittens get adopted first, and then let Beetle stay at my house until time for her spaying. A more senior person at the shelter said I should go ahead and bring her into the shelter so she can dry up more quickly, therefore allowing her to be spayed and available for adoption sooner. When we had an outbreak of URI at the shelter last fall, I had a mother and kittens I was fostering at home. I couldn't bring either into the shelter, so we did the adoptions from my house, and the kittens left over a two-week period. Then the mother stayed here until her spay. By then the URI quarantine had passed, and the mother cat was only at the shelter for a short while before being adopted. I really preferred the way that went as opposed to separating like I did this time. > I would caution that you reinforce to the people adopting her to never > allow their child alone with her unsupervised and start right away [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > important to underline the right approach so they don't make mistakes > which result in the return of the cat later. I know, and all of our volunteers are very careful when adopting cats to families with young children. These parents are pretty knowledgeable about cats, and have really done their research about introducing cats and children. The husband's mother has five cats, and they visit frequently and are teaching their daughter appropriate behavior with cats. They want their daughter to grow up appreciating animals. It's a refreshing change from the "I just had a baby and now I have to get rid of my cats" calls we get. Signature-Kelly kelly at farringtons dot net Check out www.snittens.com |
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