• How long and how often is a cat on heat during the year?

Question:
How often and for how long is a cat (I have a domestic, 6 years old) on heat during the year? Mine looks like she has been on heat permanently for about two weeks. We now would like to have her castrated. She has been peeing everywhere for two weeks (she didn't do that before).

Answer:
Cats normally have a reproductive phase in Spring and one in Autumn. Several cycles can follow each other during these periods. A cycle takes 2 to 3 weeks if the cat is not impregnated and can even last 6 to 7 weeks if the cat has a false pregnancy after unsuccessful covering. Being on heat for 2 weeks is therefore nothing unusual. Many cats become unclean during this time. This un-cleanliness as well as the on heat symptoms of course stops directly following castration. Often, it can take up to 6 weeks until the last on heat symptoms disappear (this phenomenon probably depends on physical hormone control in the pituitary gland and the interbrain). I therefore advise you to be patient up to the castration date as this is imminent and the chances are very high that the un-cleanliness disappears together with the on heat phase.