Our question this week was:

Why is my cat acting as though she is in heat, even though she was spayed a year ago? She is meowing loudly (howling) night and day, spraying, and also rolling around on her cat stand, rubbing against us, and making funny noises when we pet her. I read that it is possible that part of an ovary was left in her. Is it possible for a cat to go into heat even if no ovary was left?

Larissa Craven


Answer


Hi – thanks for your email. As far as I know, it is not possible for a cat to come in heat if they don't have ovaries or a piece of an ovary. However, there are a few cats that can get "false pregnancy" and act as though they are pregnant.

An article that might be helpful to you is on our Petplace.com is "False Pregnancy in Dogs" . This article is about dogs but will give you some basic information. It is very similar to what can happen to cats but it is very uncommon in cats.

Your vet may want to do an exploratory to determine if there is any piece of ovary left (if they believe she is really coming in heat.)


Best of luck!


Dr. Jon



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