Expert: Kate Tilmouth - 9/12/2008

Question
First, I do not spay my females. I neuter my males and I don't let my cats out, so this works well and I have never had one of my cats pregnant. My experience has taught me that females especially will be more vibrant and will have a healthier body weight if left intact.

My question is, aside from getting a cat spayed, is there anything that should be done for a cat to help it when it is in heat? My neutered male cat recenly mounted my female cat and went through the motions, though they didn't actually mate. I had noticed that my friend's cat, when allowed to get pregnant, had actual wounds on her neck from the mating afterwards (though they weren't very deep), and the pair both screamed as if in agony through the whole thing (is that normal?), so should I be stopping this false mating in my own cat? He hasn't hurt her, and she doesn't scream from it. Should a neutered male even be doing this? Because he is neutered, unless someone cloned my cat and switched them. What is normal mating/courtship behaviour in cats? In most cases I know a lot about animal behaviour, and was even asked by my friend if all the screaming was normal or if the male cat was killing his female. All I could advise was to get it spayed (or keep her inside) so next time that wouldn't happen. But I didn't know the answer.

Answer
Hi

i have always had female cats and have always had them spayed and they have lived happy unfrustrated lives without the inconvenieince of going into heat and they have all been active and healthy.

Cat mating can be very painful. the male cats penis has spines on it which once inside the female can hurt rather badly and so it is not unusual for cats to scream during mating.

The male cats although nurtered may still be affected by the smell your female cats give off during heat and this may be causing them to go through the mating process.

I do not know of anything that can stop the heat process other than spaying.

Hope this has answered your questions.