Kitten in very early heat.

Question
Someone dumped what I and the vet thought was a very young kitten.(3-4 weeks wt was 1lb)The vet would only worm due to perceived age.We are now 8 weeks later and she has had first kitten shots and weighs 2.5 lbs. She is acting like she is in heat (second day and night of calling) and some of her breasts are hard. Could she possibly be in heat this young? The vet says she appears to be "Russian Blue or Korat". The vet said he won't spay her untill 6 months of age. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Answer
Jessica,

There are two possibilities:

(1) The kitten is older than you think.  With adversities and abuse, even though the kitten may have appeared to be 3-4 weeks, its development could have been stunted and it is older than it appeared to be.

(2) It is very precocious and has, indeed come into season.

I have seen females come into season at age 4.5 months, so the latter possibility is equally likely as the first possibility.

The major advice is to keep the cat indoors.  Also, recent studies have shown that cats can be neutered/spayed as early as 12 weeks as long as they weigh at least 4 pounds:

http://www.winnfelinehealth.org/Health/Spay-Neuter.html


See how long this season lasts, knowing that it may be light and you may just have to tough it out another couple of months.  There are hormone therapies that can take a cat out of season, and you can discuss these with your vet.  I feel one should be very careful with such therapies.  As long as the kitten is eating and using the litter pan normally, I would hesitate to take a hormone therapy approach.

Best regards... Norm.