cat in heat

Question
Hi.
Ok my neighbors moved away and left a mom cat and a litter of kittens. cruel, yep.
My mom and I, as well as another lady who lives down the street have kind of been taking turns caring for them and trying to rehome them and get them fixed.

money is hard to find nowadays so we have not been able to get 3 of the cats fixed. 2 are female and one is male.
We have all 3 indoors since it is cold.

one of the females is in heat. we have her separated from all the others and since the boy is also not fixed, our neighbor keeps him.

Anyways, how long does cat heat last?

I daresay she is excessively horny, she is 'masturbating' with objects. She rubs her behind against toys, furniture, and other objects. is this normal?

also I know it is responsible to get cats fixed, every paycheck I get I put back money to get them fixed. getting a female cat fixed is about 100-200$ at LOW COST programs. Her estimate at a normal vet was about $600
I cant just take them to a shelter. we have been successful in rehoming 3 kittens and 2 adult cats since Thanksgiving

Answer
Hi Kayla.  Thanks for stepping in to help these kitties!  $600 is an insane amount for a spay surgery!  I wonder what that vet does!  I'm not sure if you can find any referrals for more assistance, but check out these sites.  Here in my area, we can get low-cost spays for $80.

www.neuterspay.org
www.spayusa.org
http://www.lovethatcat.com/spayneuter.html

As for the heat, in most cats it lasts one to two weeks.  The rare cat will be in heat for as long as three weeks.  The shorter the heat lasts, the more frequently it returns, as a general rule.  If she is in heat for one week, it returns about every 2-3 weeks during mating season.

It can be normal for cats in heat to masturbate.  This should be helped a great deal once she's spayed, but even some spayed cats will masturbate sometimes.  While she's in heat, she'll probably rub herself on anything she can find and may even lick herself.  But if it continues after she's spayed, the best idea is usually to remove objects that seem to encourage the behavior.  Pillows, stuffed animals and loose laundry seem to be favorites.

Best of luck, and keep up the good work!

Jessica