cat in heat

Question
I'm reading about cats in heat and how it is painful to them... my year old
unspayed cat is quite annoying - but why should I worry?  Isn't this natural, and
don't all animals have a cycle?  The two cats I've had before had ugly paunches
afterwards and were fat and slow.  Can I leave my cat unspayed?

Answer
Cats that get fat and slow after being spayed get that way from eating too much of the wrong food and played with. I have been a vet tech for over 28 yrs and have had spayed cats since I was a teen and never once have had a cat with a fat belly or that was ugly.

What I did have, however, were cats that were fed Science Diet, were played with, vaccinated and were thin and active. They were also not at risk for having dozens of unwanted kittens, or pyometra's or mammary cancers, all the things that unspayed cats can get. Nor were they at risk getting hit by a car from running off during their heat cycles to get bred and/or get leukemia or FIV or FIP from being bred.

To answer your question- yes all UNSPAYED animals have a cycle and yes it's natural just as it is for us to have a monthly cycle. However as responsible pet owners it is also a responsibility for us to care for our pets by having them neutered and spayed so that we are not reckless in bringing in more animals into an already overburdened world where over 2 million cats and dogs are killed daily in just the USA in shelters because other people were not responsible and didn't get their animals fixed.
If you read about your cat's heat cycle being painful to her and you are not worried about that, why are you asking? Why are you not worried about her being in pain, or any of the other things I mentioned?

Get your cat spayed for her health, for the neighbors sanity and so that she will be healthy, free of the above risks, and free from overpopulating the world with more kittens. Then feed her properly and play with her and she won't be fat or slow or get a paunch.