It was with great joy (NOT) that we realized, Thursday evening, that Kara had gone into heat. How, you ask, did we know such a thing? Well, if the super-friendly rolling around and purring wasn’t a clue (she’s always been, after all, a friendly girl), and the yowling didn’t clue us in, the fact that any time we touched her anywhere near her tail she crouched down and presented her back end was what made us realize what was going on.
I think you can bet that by bedtime Thursday I was kicking myself for not taking her to be spayed after her first mini-bout of being in heat a few weeks ago. The yowling of a female cat in need of some attention is ear-piercing, to say the least. I called Friday morning to make an appointment to have her spayed – and made an appointment for the kittens at the same time – and the first available time they had was Wednesday. I went ahead and made the appointment, but told Fred that if Kara got too loud at night, we’d have to set her up in the garage overnight.
Luckily, she’s been settling down at night and not yowling THANK GOD. We’ve taken up the gate at the bottom of the stairs so she can be downstairs with me if she wants, and on Saturday she drove poor Spanky crazy. She’s apparently latched onto the idea that he’s the big stud in the house (poor lonely Momma cat and a houseful of neutered males!) and if she’s in the mood for love and sees him, she’ll flop down in front of him and present her back end. He just looks at her like “I don’t know what you want, but I wish you’d be quiet about it!”
She got going with the yowling and low crawling Sunday afternoon and Tommy (who was laying in a cat bed on my desk) got up and jumped to the floor. Fred said “Uh oh!” A minute later, I saw Tommy stomping across the back yard to the patio, looking for some peace and quiet.
Our cats are being remarkably patient with her – there have been some dustups, but interestingly they only happen when one of our cats ventures upstairs during the day when Kara and her kittens are out of the foster room. On Friday I was in the kitchen and heard a loud noise, Miz Poo came flying by all puffed up, and I went upstairs to see Kara all puffed up and sending hate rays toward the stairs. It appears that Miz Poo had gotten too close to a baby, and Kara had to show her that that was NOT okay. Saturday she went after Mister Boogers and scared him.
So anyway, Kara and the kittens are going to be spayed and neutered on Wednesday and then it’s just a matter of waiting until room opens up at the pet store.
(I’m in no hurry for them to go. For the record!)
They’re still occasionally nursing (if you look by River’s (the gray tabby in the middle) right ear, you’ll see Kaylee’s orange ear sticking up). Because I was curious, I timed them this time to see how long she’d let them nurse before she got up and walked off. 90 seconds is all they got – and I managed to get a ton of pictures of them during those 90 seconds. I always grab the camera when I see them nursing, because I always think it’s going to be the last time!
Inara’s looking at me like “Do you see how she abandons us when all we want is some milk?!”
Kaylee’s NOT gonna share that toy, so don’t even try!
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He hets you.
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Previously
2007: No entry.
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry.