Female cat in heat but is spayed

Question
My husband and I adopted 2 female cats. They are sisters. I cat is constantly meowing and shivering her tail and butt. Is it possible that she is reacting like she is heat? Please help she drives us crazy at night constantly meowing and jumping on us.

Answer
Hi Suzanne,

It is possible for there to be a tiny bit of ovarian tissue left behind during spay surgery, and even a tiny bit can be enough to produce the hormones that make your cat go into heat. So it is possible this is happening even if she is spayed. The only solution if this is the case is a second surgery to find and remove the leftover tissue. You'll have to consult with a vet on how to proceed, and to find out if this could be the problem. They can test her hormone levels.

But you also did not mention how long ago you adopted the cats. If you've had them less than a couple of months, they are still settling in. Shivering the tail is a sign of excitement, and meowing at night is common when cats are in a new environment.

To get some sleep, first make sure you play with the cats before bed time. Get them tired out by having them chase a laser pointer or a feather on a string toy (always store these somewhere they can't reach when no in use - the string can be a choking danger). Try to establish a very strict routine, with meal times and play times always at the same time of day. This is very reassuring to a cat and will help calm them. Soon they will learn when is play time and when is sleep time! When they make noise during the night do not take any notice - even to tell them to be quiet is giving them attention and may make things worse. Ignore them, use earplugs if you must!

You can find more tips on helping the cats settle in on this website:

http://catnet.stanford.edu/articles/careguide.html

Also you can add some tryptophan (an amino acid found in cooked turkey that makes mammals feel sleepy and calm) to her dinner. Tryptophan can be found at most health food stores and online as capsules, just pull apart one 500mg capsules and put in her dinner each night.

More on cat nutrition and behavior:

http://www.catnutrition.org/clienthandout.html

Good luck!