Cat in heat: signs, how long it lasts and what to do

What a cat in heat is: the cycle, its stages and the age it starts

A cat in heat is an unspayed female cat in oestrus, the 2 to 19 day stage of her cycle (usually 6 to 7 days) in which she is fertile and receptive to a male, and it can start from sexual maturity at around four months International Cat Care, Cat pregnancy.

Cats are seasonally polyoestrous induced ovulators, which is the whole page in four words. Seasonally polyoestrous means she cycles again and again through a breeding season rather than once or twice a year like a dog. Induced ovulator means she releases no eggs until she mates: ovulation follows 24 to 48 hours after breeding, a queen may mate 20 to 36 times over 36 hours, and only about half of queens bred a single time secrete enough luteinising hormone to ovulate. International Cat Care puts it in owner terms: several matings over four to six days may be needed to trigger ovulation, the litter can have several fathers, and if she does not mate the eggs are never released and the cycle repeats about two weeks later.

The age at first heat is the number the sources disagree on, and the disagreement is worth printing. International Cat Care says sexual maturity 'from around the age of 4 months' and that the first season 'is usually around six months of age but can be earlier'; International Cat Care, Neutering your cat. The Merck table gives puberty at 4 to 12 months. PetMD gives 5 to 9 months with some kittens cycling at 3 to 4 months and others not until 18. VetPartners gives 4 to 6 months, and Pet Health Club adds the two variables behind the spread: breed, with Siamese cats maturing as young as four months, and body weight, with most cats coming into season at about 80 percent of adult weight. The figure that governs a decision is the earliest one: she can conceive from four months, so the cat neutering guide for India plans the spay around four months, not six.

Why induced ovulation decides what happens next

Induced ovulation is why an unspayed indoor cat with no tom seems to be in heat all the time: with no mating there is no ovulation, no 40-day progesterone phase, and the next heat arrives after the 8 to 10 day gap. An infertile mating, or ovulation induced another way, starts a pseudopregnancy of about 40 days and delays the next cycle by roughly 45 days. Two footnotes matter later on this page. First, the queen is not a perfect induced ovulator: the studies Romagnoli reviews found that 35 to 87 percent of queens may ovulate spontaneously, so a cat that has never met a tom can still be in dioestrus. Second, every progesterone phase, natural or injected, is a period in which the uterus is progesterone-sensitised, and pyometra is by definition a bacterial infection of a progesterone-sensitised uterus.

Signs of a cat in heat, and what is not a sign

The signs of a cat in heat are behavioural: restlessness, loud calling, rubbing and rolling, crouching with the rump raised and the tail swung to one side, treading with the hind legs and urine marking, and bleeding is not one of them Gillian Burkhill, Veterinary Surgeon.

The eight signs the veterinary pages agree on are listed below, with the Merck description of oestrous behaviour as the reference: 'restlessness, vocalization, crouching and lordosis, treading with hind legs, and tail deviation'; Sharon English BVM&S MRCVS Gillian Burkhill, Veterinary Surgeon.

• Calling. A loud, rising and falling yowl that owners mistake for pain, often worst at night; International Cat Care's word for it is 'calling' and its note on it is 'which is very loud!';.
• Rolling and rubbing. Rolling on the floor, rubbing the face and body on furniture, door frames and your legs, far more than her usual greeting.
• The lordosis crouch. Front end down, rump in the air, tail swung to one side, back feet treading, most obvious when you stroke her lower back.
• Restlessness. Pacing, inability to settle, more activity than normal, and attempts to get out of the door or window.
• Extra affection, then irritability. Unusually affectionate and demanding one minute, grumpy the next.
• Urine marking. Weeing more or spraying urine that carries her scent to toms, sometimes indoors.
• Grooming the rear end. Licking excessively around the vulva, which may look slightly swollen.
• Toms at the door. Unneutered males appearing on the stairwell or the balcony wall and making a noise of their own.

Two things are not signs. A cat in heat does not bleed: the queen has no bloody discharge in oestrus, PetMD treats any vaginal bleeding as an emergency, and Animal Trust reads blood around the genitals or in the urine as a possible urinary tract infection or other illness Gillian Burkhill, Veterinary Surgeon. And a male cat does not go into heat; an intact tom can breed at any time, so the behaviour to watch in a mixed household is hers.

How long a cat stays in heat and how often it comes back, including in India

A female cat stays in heat for 2 to 19 days, typically 6 to 7, and if she does not ovulate she is back in heat after a gap of 8 to 10 days, so an unspayed cat in an Indian flat can call roughly every two to three weeks for most of the year International Cat Care, Neutering your cat.

How often cats go into heat is the same question from the other end, and the heat cycle table answers both. The ranges overlap, and the reason the outer numbers differ is that Merck reports the measured extremes (a 2-day heat and a 19-day heat are both real) while the owner pages report the typical week. For planning, use the typical week and the two-to-three-week return: a queen that is not mated and not spayed calls for about a week, rests for a week and a half, and calls again, and International Cat Care's arithmetic is that she can have up to three litters a year.

The Indian calendar: is there an off-season?

Probably not much of one. The cycle is driven by day length: cats are long-day breeders, the queen has a seasonal anoestrus in October to December under natural daylight in the northern hemisphere, and International Cat Care notes that pregnancies rise from February and fall from October there, while 'cats on the equator probably don't experience a great deal of change in their reproductivity throughout the year'; International Cat Care, Cat pregnancy. Animal Trust and Pet Health Club say the same from the other side: indoor cats under artificial light, and cats in warmer climates, may cycle all year Pet Health Club (IVC Evidensia UK). India sits far closer to the equator than the UK or the northern US, its December days are longer than theirs, and a flat in Mumbai, Chennai or Bengaluru is lit until midnight. No Indian study of oestrus seasonality in pet cats was found for this page, so the honest planning assumption is year-round cycling with, at most, a shorter winter lull in the north.

Is it painful for a cat when in heat?

No, a cat in heat is not in pain: International Cat Care says an owner's first instinct may be that she is in pain, 'but in fact, these behaviours are perfectly normal for a female cat in search of a mate', and Animal Trust's vets say being in heat 'isn't usually painful'; Gillian Burkhill, Veterinary Surgeon.

The calling sounds like pain because it is designed to carry. It is a mating call, it is 'very loud', and Merck lists the whole performance, the restlessness, the vocalisation, the crouch and the treading, as normal oestrous behaviour rather than as symptoms Clare M. Scully, Reproductive Management…. What a heat does cost her is condition: Romagnoli's review records that queens 'normally vocalize continuously and eat less when in season, and as a result lose condition and develop a rough coat', which is the breeders' reason for wanting heats suppressed and a fair description of a week with a calling queen in a two-bedroom flat. Reduced appetite is on PetMD's sign list too.

Distress and pain are different questions, and the distinction is the vet's. A queen that is restless and loud but eats, drinks, uses the tray and greets you is in heat. A queen that is quiet, off her food, has a discharge or seems sore is showing illness during a heat, and the list in the signs section above is the one to read to the clinic. Pet Health Club's phrasing is the useful one for a first-time owner: the loud vocalisation 'can be confused with a painful cry, which can be worrying, but this loud vocalisation is perfectly normal for a cat in oestrus';.

What to do when your cat is in heat: what helps at home, in the order that matters

What to do when your cat is in heat is, in order, keep her in, give her a quiet room, play with her, give attention when she asks for it and space when she does not, and keep the litter tray clean; nothing on that list shortens the heat, and every veterinary page agrees that only spaying ends it Jamie Lovejoy DVM, Cat in Heat: Signs.

The six steps below are the ones a vet-written page puts its name to. They are ranked by what they prevent, and the first one prevents the only thing that cannot be undone Jamie Lovejoy DVM, Cat in Heat: Signs Wedgewood Pharmacy.

1. Keep her in and shut the escape routes. A cat in heat is more likely to try to escape, so check doors, windows, balcony grilles and the gap beside the air-conditioner; if she must travel, she goes in a closed carrier. Cats mate very quickly and will mate with a brother, and she can conceive on her very first heat Gillian Burkhill, Veterinary Surgeon. If she does get out, the cat pregnancy care guide is the next page to read.
2. Give her a quiet room. A comfortable, private place where she can rest away from children, visitors and other cats, with the door closed at night.
3. Play with her, twice a day. Distract her with toys that trigger hunting; they take her mind off the other drive and tire her for the night; PetMD's word is enrichment.
4. Attention on her terms. Give attention if she seeks it and space if she prefers to be left alone; some queens are irritable in heat and that is not personal.
5. Keep the litter tray clean and skip ammonia cleaners. A cat in heat marks; a clean tray keeps the marking in the tray, and ammonia-based cleaners can stimulate spraying.
6. Keep the routine. Feeding times, the same room, the same people; PetMD lists a consistent routine with enrichment and extra attention as the three things that may reduce stress during a cycle.

What the ranking pages sell on top of that list has no trial behind it. Wedgewood says 'some cat owners swear by' Rescue Remedy and catnip and then advises them only 'when nothing else works';; Pet Health Club suggests a pheromone diffuser; a Hong Kong clinic recommends a warm towel; one page sells acupressure and another sells CBD. None cites a study in queens in heat, this page found none, and none shortens a heat. They are not dangerous in the way the hormone injection below is dangerous, and that is the most that can be said for them.

How to stop a cat in heat from meowing, and how to get a cat out of heat fast

Nothing stops a cat in heat from meowing except the end of the heat, ovulation or spaying: the calling is the heat, it is 'very loud', and it runs until oestrus ends, typically after 6 to 7 days Merck Veterinary Manual.

Calming a cat in heat at night is the home list above, applied at bedtime; managing excessive vocalisation is the same list, and nothing on it is a switch. A play session before bed to tire her, a quiet room with the door closed so the calling is one wall further away, attention when she asks for it rather than when she yowls, and no punishment, because a queen calling for a mate is not misbehaving and cannot stop on request Jamie Lovejoy DVM, Cat in Heat: Signs. Calling is loudest at night because that is when it carries; Pet Health Club describes it as 'often loud and persistent, especially at night';. Earplugs are for you, not for her, and the week ends.

Getting her out of heat fast: what actually shortens a heat, and what only looks like it does

A heat ends early only when she ovulates. Ovulation follows mating by 24 to 48 hours, starts a pseudopregnancy of about 40 days, and delays the next cycle by roughly 45 days. That is the biology behind two things a vet may mention. The first is an infertile mating, with a vasectomised tom, which is not something an Indian household can arrange. The second is medically induced ovulation: the study protocols Romagnoli reviews induced ovulation with a GnRH injection when queens were in heat, and it is a vet's procedure, not a home one. Each such pseudopregnancy buys six weeks of quiet at the cost of 40 days of progesterone on the uterus, and a progesterone-sensitised uterus is where pyometra starts. Used once to bridge to a booked spay it is a reasonable conversation; used every six weeks for years it is not.

What only looks like it works is the progestin injection, because a cat given one stops calling within days; the next section is about why that is the wrong lever.

The remedy an Indian owner is offered: hormone injections and tablets, and what the evidence says

The remedy for a cat in heat that an Indian owner is offered is a progestin, medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) by injection or megestrol acetate (MA) by tablet, and the veterinary evidence on both is that they suppress heat at the price of mammary hyperplasia and tumours, pyometra and, with megestrol, diabetes and adrenal suppression, with the risk rising with the dose and with the wrong timing American College of Theriogenologists… Alliance for Contraception in Cats….

The hormonal treatments on offer are two drugs, and the injection is a human contraceptive. Depo-Provera Injection, medroxyprogesterone acetate 150 mg in a 1 ml vial, is listed by Tata 1mg at Rs 289.65 with Pfizer Ltd as marketer and by Apollo Pharmacy at Rs 294.5 with DKT India Ltd as manufacturer and marketer, both as a prescription drug under NPPA price regulation, both for contraception, abnormal uterine bleeding and endometriosis in women, and Apollo lists Pari at Rs 125 and Depogen and Dimple at Rs 175 as substitutes Apollo Pharmacy, Depo-Provera 150 mg…. Those are rupee-native prices (Rs 289.65 is 3.43 dollars at 84.38 and 3.91 at 74). No Indian manufacturer or seller page for a progestin labelled for cats was found for this page, so the product an Indian owner meets is, on the pages opened, the human 150 mg vial drawn down by eye.

The arithmetic is the part no ranking page does. Romagnoli's review classes MPA at more than 6.25 mg/kg as the high dosing 'used in cats over the past 40 years', against the 0.01 to 0.05 mg/kg daily oral doses that suppressed heat in two groups of six queens for a year without harm, and notes that the mammary, uterine and glucose effects were reported at doses 'more than 100 times higher' than those. The eight queens in Loretti's series got a single depot injection at 10.8 to 25 mg/kg, the doses a local company recommended, and every one developed mammary fibroepithelial hyperplasia. A full 150 mg vial in a 4 kg cat is 37.5 mg/kg. A quarter of the vial is 9.4 mg/kg in a 4 kg cat and 12.5 mg/kg in a 3 kg cat, inside the Loretti range. There is no fraction of that vial that lands on the low dose the review calls relatively safe Tata 1mg, Depo-Provera Injection 1 ml.

Timing is the second error. Romagnoli's own rule is that queens to be treated with progestins 'should be healthy and in post-estrus or anestrus (not oestrus or diestrus)', and the reason an injection is bought in India is that the cat is calling now. Two of Loretti's eight queens were injected while showing oestrus signs and two were pregnant at the time, one of them carrying two foetuses when she died three days after surgery. The MPA half-life after an intramuscular dose is 40 to 50 days, so a mistake cannot be withdrawn.

The guideline bodies disagree about low doses and agree about the injection an Indian owner gets. The American College of Theriogenologists and the Society for Theriogenology state that progestogen administration in cats 'can be associated with adverse health issues, including development of diabetes mellitus, mammary hypertrophy, mammary neoplasia, and acromegaly in both female and male cats', that inadvertent use in a pregnant cat 'may induce teratogenic changes in developing fetuses', and that the drugs may be used for owned cats 'only within the strict confines of a veterinarian-client-patient relationship, including a veterinary prescription';. The Alliance for Contraception in Cats and Dogs says that in most countries no drug is approved to suppress fertility in cats, that oral megestrol at 2.5 mg per cat weekly for up to 30 weeks 'can be considered relatively safe' for a cat not showing heat signs, that there are 'less data' for a cat in heat, and lists the side effects as diabetes mellitus, pyometra, adrenal gland suppression, mammary hyperplasia and mammary cancer. Romagnoli, the reviewer most in favour of the drugs, closes with 'Too many queens have been treated with excessively high doses of progestins, and many more are at risk because of inaccurate or incomplete information on their use that persists around the world';. Published together: the low-dose oral regimen is a prescription conversation with a vet who will examine her first; the 150 mg depot vial given to a calling cat is the high-dose, wrong-timing use every one of these documents describes.

The standing answer: spaying, the age, the cost in India and spaying a cat in heat

Spaying is the one thing that ends heats for good; International Cat Care puts it at around four months, and on the Indian pages opened on 18 September 2026 it costs Rs 1,000 at Blue Cross Society of Pune, Rs 2,500 for a female at The Feline Foundation in Mumbai and Rs 5,000 at The Vet Connect in Delhi Blue Cross Society of Pune The Feline Foundation, Mumbai The Vet Connect, New Delhi.

The case for it is the mirror image of the harms table above. International Cat Care lists what spaying prevents: pyometra, mammary tumours later in life, the risks of pregnancy and birth, and 'the nuisance of excessive noise when a female cat comes into call';. Cats Protection puts a number on the tumours: mammary cancer is over 90 percent less likely if she is spayed before six months. Misdorp's case-control found ovariectomy protective against mammary carcinoma while regular progestogens raised the risk, which is the same hormone read from both ends. The myth that she should have one litter first has no health or behavioural benefit behind it, and VetPartners calls it a myth outright. The age question, the pain protocol, recovery in a flat and the NGO routes by city are on the cat neutering guide for India; the figures below are the three fee pages re-read for this page on the same day.

Against those figures, the injection costs Rs 289.65 a vial plus the consultation, repeated every few months for as long as she lives entire, and the Keskin queen's bill at the end was a spay plus a full mastectomy at 11 years old Keskin A, Yilmazbas G, Yilmaz R. The Feline Foundation asks for a Tricat vaccine at least 21 days before surgery for a stray and within 12 months for a pet, so the cat vaccination schedule for India is the page to line up first.

Can you spay a cat in heat?

Yes, a cat can be spayed while she is in heat, and the two vet-written pages that answer the question disagree on how much that matters. PetMD says yes, and that waiting for anoestrus once she is cycling raises the risk of an unwanted pregnancy and other reproductive complications. Wedgewood says most veterinarians find spaying during heat 'less than ideal' because of an increased potential for surgical complications. The AWBI's surgical module explains the mechanism in its dog chapter: oestrogen can delay clotting, so a female operated on in oestrus needs efficient haemostasis; its cat guideline adds only that pregnancy status is to be determined in every female before surgery. What governs is the surgeon: a clinic that prefers not to operate in oestrus has the 8 to 10 day gap after the calling stops in which to do it, and the gap is short enough that the booking should be made while she is still calling, not after.

Community cats calling at night: Rule 19 of the ABC Rules 2023 and the NGO routes

Community cats calling at night in your lane are covered by Rule 19 of the Animal Birth Control Rules, 2023, the one rule in the notification that mentions cats: on the State Board's advice a recognised animal welfare organisation 'may' sterilise domestic or feral cats, at the local authority's expense, and away from dogs.

Rule 19, on page 31 of notification G.S.R. 193(E) of 10 March 2023, reads: 'Upon the advice of State Board, the Sterilisation of cats may be conducted by a recognised Animal Welfare Organisation with training and expertise in spay or neuter of cats, in a manner provided in the Guidelines for Cat Sterilisation and Immunisation, published by the Board', with three sub-rules: the infrastructure and reimbursement 'shall be provided by the local authority'; cats may use a dog ABC centre but 'must not be housed with or come in contact in any way with dogs'; and post-operative care must be somewhere they 'do not suffer from unnecessary stress by the sounds or smells of dogs';. The guideline it promises exists: section 7 of the AWBI's revised ABC module, 'Guidelines for Birth Control and Immunisation of Stray Cats', on document pages 124 to 139, requires among other things that pregnancy status be determined in every female before surgery.

In practice the local authorities have not built it and the NGOs have, which is why the route for a resident is a booking, not a complaint. The steps are listed below.

1. Confirm it is a heat. Rolling, calling and toms gathering are a heat; a cat that is quiet, limping or has a discharge is injured or ill and goes to a clinic first.
2. Book the ward while she is calling. The Feline Foundation in Mumbai takes stray cats at Rs 1,500 for a male and Rs 2,500 for a female with post-operative care, deworming and anti-rabies vaccine, does Andheri West cats free when slots allow, and calls back within a week of the form. Blue Cross Society of Pune takes stray cats of either sex at Rs 1,000 with vaccines and a seven-day stay, by email only. Bengaluru, Delhi and Chennai are on the cat neutering guide.
3. Confine her the night before. She is easiest to catch when she is calling and hardest once she has mated and vanished for 40 days; a carrier in a stairwell corner with food works where a chase does not.
4. Expect the ear notch. The AWBI guideline requires a V notch on the right ear of every programme cat, and The Feline Foundation's price for a pet cat drops from Rs 5,000 to Rs 2,500 with it The Feline Foundation, Mumbai.

Maharashtra has the two wards that print an all-in fee, in Mumbai and Pune; Bengaluru in Karnataka has CUPA's community-cat centre, booked on WhatsApp, on the cat neutering guide; no Hyderabad or Kolkata page that prices a cat spay was opened for this page, so a resident there asks the clinic for the all-in figure and compares it with the Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,500 above The Feline Foundation, Mumbai. A society that objects to a resident feeding the colony while its sterilisation is arranged is answered by Rule 20 of the same rules, which makes the resident welfare association responsible for arranging the feeding of community animals in its premises; the community feeding guide carries the text. The arithmetic behind the booking is International Cat Care's: an unspayed queen can have up to three litters a year, and a colony's calling stops the same way a flat's does, one spay at a time.

Persian, Siamese, Bengal and British Shorthair: does the breed change anything?

Breed changes three things about a cat in heat: how early it starts (Siamese cats as young as four months), how loud it is (the Siamese and the Bengal are the most vocal breeds on this site), and the pyometra risk if she stays entire (Siamese, Bengal, Ragdoll and Maine Coon all ran above 60 cats per 10,000 cat-years against 17 overall in the Swedish insured population).

The Siamese cat is the breed to plan earliest for: Pet Health Club names it as the breed that matures early and can have a first heat at four months, its registry warns of loud protests, and its page on this site rates it the loudest common pedigree cat, so a Siamese in heat in a Pune flat is the loudest week the building will have. Hagman's incidence list puts the Siamese among the breeds above 60 pyometra cases per 10,000 cat-years, with the Sphynx at 433. One cosmetic footnote after the spay: in the Siamese, skin temperature sets the hair colour, so the shaved patch grows back darker for a while and then lightens.

The Bengal cat shares the vocal problem and the pyometra listing: it is among Hagman's breeds above 60 per 10,000, and its own page carries the survey figure on how many Bengals vocalise. The Persian cat is the quiet one and the expensive one: it is not a vocal breed, but The Feline Foundation's ward does not operate on Persian or non-Indie breeds, so a Persian owner in Mumbai pays the private rate, and a flat-faced cat's anaesthetic is a conversation for the vet who examines her. The British Shorthair is quiet by registry description and is not among the breeds Hagman names above 60, which leaves it with the same plan as any other cat: spay at around four months, before the first call, and never the vial International Cat Care, Neutering your cat.