Hi, I’m Amanda! Read my introduction to learn more about me and Blue, my fluffy fire point Himalayan-Persian cat.
It is probably important to start this post by saying that Blue was spayed early on so she had never experienced what it was like to be in heat, nor did we have an understanding of what that might look like as my husband never had cats growing up and I only had male cats.
In an earlier post, I talked about how our friends and I often brought our cats together for kitty playdates. Over the years, there were male cats, female cats, seniors, and kittens, often even dogs. With cats being the territorial creatures they are, it took a bit to adapt to new places and faces but because we started when Blue was a kitten, she became accustomed to the change of pace easily. She was exposed to all sorts of situations early on and I accredit Blue’s sociability to these gatherings.
How We Started Pet-Sitting
Since many of these pets were comfortable with us and our home, I often volunteered to fur-babysit when our friends went on vacation. Simple single-night sleepovers to full-on week-long holidays. Most of these were easy peasy, with a few extra furry bodies in the bed and mouths to feed at mealtime. We had Blue and our then Chihuahua, Beau – both had met and were well acquainted with all of the pets we offered to take in.
Blue and Natala in side-by-side cat beds
Cats In Heat
There are two instances that I remember above all others when it comes to us pet-sitting and unfortunately not because they were pleasant. Both posed new challenges and completely changed my stance on housing pets for friends. Both happened to be for a week-long stay and each story mirrors the other almost identically.
Natala and Kahlua are Siamese cats and were relatively young when we took them on. Since Natala was our first experience, we can take a deeper look into that situation.
The first few days with Natala were the same as any other stay. Took her a minute to get reacquainted with Blue, and find the litter box, water fountain, and cat tree. Day two was fairly normal like she’d settled in nicely. By day three she became very vocal, especially at night, and followed Blue around obsessively. Although we suspected she was going into heat we also thought she might have been just feeling homesick. This was her first time away from her owner so we thought that could have something to do with it. Probably wishful thinking on our part.
After 24 hours of increasing distress, irritability, and waving her butt in the air, Natala started spotting. It was like this for the following days. We did what we could to keep her comfortable —nothing felt like it was helping, though. Blue grew less and less patient with Natala, and instinctively would hold her down and bite her scruff as a way of saying “Enough!”. There were even a few tiffs we attempted to mediate. Blue wanted her space but Natala was a persistent shadow.
Natala with her butt in the air
Setting Boundaries
We managed to get through, though. It was a long and sleepless stay for all, including Natala. We weren’t exactly prepared for our furry guest to go into heat nor did we have the tools or knowledge to make it more of a comfortable environment for Natala. Not having a reprieve was tough for the lot of us, especially Blue. Surely, this is a once-in-a-lifetime affair, right? Wrong. We went through the same motions a second time with another cat, Kahlua. Rough. Since both females were not spayed during their visits, we’ve set a hard boundary not to pet-sit any more kitties until they’ve been fixed. At the end of the day, we’re not willing to sacrifice Blue’s comfort.
We’re still unsure of how this happened both times we’ve watched unspayed females. It could be possible that being around Blue had brought it on or maybe it was a phase in their development. Whatever the case, we’ll be taking an indefinite break from kitty sitting.
This article is a part of Amanda and Blue’s series.
