Female spayed kitten - in heat?

gipi

I have a 7 month old female domestic shorthair kitten who was spayed at the end of April. She was spayed just as she came into season for the first time.

Today I noticed that she's behaving as if she's in heat. There have been up to 4 tomcats in the garden making advances towards her (the smell in the garden from their marking/spraying is atrocious), and I just managed to save her from being mated by one of the toms this afternoon!

All my previous cats have been male, I've no experience of a female cat.

I thought that she would be of zero interest to tomcats once she was spayed but obviously I'm wrong (one of the toms has set up residence at my back door!). I'm now faced with having to keep my cat indoors when she has just gotten used to going out and about.

Is this normal? Should she be displaying "in heat" behaviour towards male cats?

Any info appreciated, thanks!

Plymouth Rock

Does your cat have swollen, red coloured girl-bits? Are her nipples swollen? Is she interested in the toms at all? If so, she could be having a phantom heat.

I would be concerned about this too. Like you said, she should be of no interest sexually to males. Def speak to the vet about it.

Also, are you sure they are ALL toms? Being a new cat on the block may be drawing attention from every cat in the area!!!

gipi

Thanks PR - her ladybits were puffed up and pinker earlier today when I grabbed her, and the two most interested cats are definitely toms!! They've been hanging round since I got the kitten (before she was spayed when she was indoors full-time).

She spent ages displaying herself (rolling on the ground, lifting her tail, showing her bits) in front of the toms today, so did appear to be trying to draw their attention.

I'll talk to the vet on Monday about it. As I said earlier, it's my first experience of female cats so I've no idea what's normal!

Themadhouse

Def sounds like some ovarian tissue or something similar was left behind. I would get vet to run bloods to see and they should do this for free seeing as she is displaying "in heat" behaviour! She probably shouldn't have been neutered as while she was in heat. Most definitely not normal behaviour after a spay but it can happen when something is left behind.

gipi

By way of an update (which may help others in similar situation), I spoke to my vet today.

She said that it can take up to 8 weeks for hormone levels to completely drop after spaying, even if there is no ovarian tissue remaining. There is a blood test which will indicate if there is remaining tissue but that isn't reliable until 8 weeks after the op (which is 3 weeks away).

In 3 weeks time, puss will have a blood test and then be injected with a substance which will trigger ovulation - the blood test is repeated in a week, and that will confirm whether there is any ovarian tissue remaining. If it is, then she'll have to go under the knife again.

In the meantime, she (and I!) will have to carry on as best we can....she has to be locked in one room, and I've got to try to amuse a cat with hormone issues!!

Thanks again for the feedback, all.

Themadhouse

How can ovulation be stimulated if she has no ovaries? I'm not being smart, just trying to understand the idea behind it.
Did your vet mention ovarid? It prevents a cat going into season, it might stop her calling.
The vet could do an ultrasound to check, although difficult it might tell him if something has been left behind.
They serious howling doesnt last too long, if you need a break give her half a piriton, it will make her sleepy. Dont us it every day tho.

SillyMangoX

I think they give the drug to stimulate ovulation to check if there is any ovarian tissue left behind. They do an initial blood text and check levels of whatever would show up during ovulation. Then the give the drug and re test, if the levels stay the same, ovulation has not occurred so they would know there is no ovarian tissue. If the levels rise it would mean there was ovulation so there are some tissues left and surgery will be needed again. I don't think they could do it by ultrasound as the piece of tissue left may be so tiny it would not be visualised on the scan, only other alternative would be to open her up and manually check to see if there is any tissues left, but obviously it's better for the cat to avoid unnecessary surgery in the case that there is no tissues left. That's what I understand from it anyway

Themadhouse

But a cat only ovulates when stimulated. Wonder what it is that they use to stimulate it.

gipi

I couldn't hear all the details the vet mentioned as we were on mobile phones, but I thought I heard progesterone in the conversation somewhere. I'll update with more details when I speak to her face to face.