My cat hasn't gone into heat for 2 months

[ConcernedCatDad]

Hi everyone,

My cat of 1 year hasn't gone into heat for 2 months. Is that normal? She's had 4-5 cycles since she turned 6 months and they used to take place every 3-4 weeks.

She's an indoor cat that doesn't go outside at all.

Should I be concerned or could she have had a silent heat cycle? She'a usually very vocal and affectionate when in heat.

Thanks for your help.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi! Welcome! --have you taken her to a vet? Are you going to get her spayed?

 

[ConcernedCatDad]

Thank you, Furballsmom. No, I haven't yet. She seems fine, though and is eating normally. I was just wondering if that's normal cause the information on the internet is conflicting.

As for getting her spayed, I'm not sure. I find it unethical to remove an animal's reproductive organs for our convience. You don't remove a woman's uterus because it reduces her risk of getting cervical cancer.

 

[Furballsmom]

Our convenience?
The multiple kittens that your female cat will have over her lifetime, none or few of which will have loving forever homes with no abuse and as disease free lives as possible, never mind the incredible wear and tear on the mother cat, are not even remotely comparable to human children or adults.

 

[catloverfromwayback]

Repeatedly going into heat has health risks for cats. You’re not helping her at all by subjecting her to it.

Is your cat in heat? - FACE Low-Cost Animal Clinic

Learn to tell the signs when your cat is in heat and other information about a cat in heat.

facespayneuter.org

 

[Cataria]

When I was a teenager, I had two indoor only female cats that were unspayed. To answer your question, they did not go into heat constantly -- they would go into phases where they would go through cycles of heat, then nothing for awhile.

I didn't know this as a teen (nor could do much about it as a child), but going through heats, especially without having kittens, is incredibly stressful and unhealthy for cats. And obviously it is not a good idea to have kittens all the time either.

Both of those cats died of mammary cancer at age 7-8 years old, they were diagnosed when I moved out and finally took them in for a spay surgery. Not spaying wildly increases the chances of mammary cancer, and it is very aggressive form of cancer. I later had a third cat (a stray) I took in that was not spayed at a sufficiently young age (younger than 1 year is optimal, but younger than 2 also decreases the chances), and she also died of mammary cancer, at age 4. It's a horrible, horrible disease.

 

[Norachan]

As for getting her spayed, I'm not sure. I find it unethical to remove an animal's reproductive organs for our convience.

It's not for our convenience. It's to prevent them dying of ovarian cancer, pyometra, mammary cancer, from getting seriously injured or killed if they manage to escape and look for a mate while in heat, from getting FIV or FeLV if they mate with an infected tom cat, from bringing more kittens into a world where hundreds of thousands of unwanted animals are euthanized every year, from dying of or losing their kittens to any of the serious post-birth complications that can arise.

How To Save Your Cat From These 16 Life-threatening Pregnancy Risks – TheCatSite Articles

Pyometra affects cats even if they never have a litter and every time she goes through a heat cycle her chances of developing this kind of infection increase.

Please be a responsible cat guardian and get her spayed before something like this happens to her.