Kitty Fix

It had to happen sooner or later, although I was hoping to avoid it completely. Alas, my little cat, Rafik, went into heat a couple weeks back and what an experience that was! You haven't lived until you've experienced a cat in heat. I had hoped to avoid this by having her fixed before she reached this point of maturity, as I had our first cat. Looks like I waited just a bit too long this time. Should have stuck with January like I originally intended.

Now Rafik is normally quite an affectionate kitty, but she was tarting herself out like nobody's business! She was rolling around on the floor in a come-hither fashion, making 'sexy-cat' sounds for our older cat(also female) and for us. She purred and meowed and carried on, crying pathetically at night. I actually felt somewhat sorry for her as she seemed confused by her own behavior. She just knew that she really needed something from someone around here and she couldn't figure out what 'it' was or understand why we were all avoiding her. It was pathetic, really! Thankfully the weather was quite cold at the time so she wasn't able to spend time out on the balcony. I don't even want to think about how much worse this would have been if male cats had started prowling around. She was quite good with her seductive maneuvering and I'm sure no male cat could have refused her charms!

As soon as I realized what her crying in the night and super-friendly behavior were all about (it may have taken ten minutes), I called the vet and made an appointment to have her girly parts removed. They quoted me an exorbitant price, told me her current condition could last up to 3 weeks, and then set an appointment for a couple of weeks out. I knew I couldn't stand her randy behavior that long so I called around and discovered Animal Aid, a local shelter that will provide the procedure for a lot less money and, equally important, could take her in a couple of days.

We got up on the appointed morning and she went happily into the carrier, apparently not remembering any previous trip in it. Once we got in the car and started driving she was less happy, and when we arrived at the vet she became most anxious, due to several dogs in the waiting room. Poor baby. When I went to pick her up later that day she looked like hell! Still drugged and horrified (her - not me), we made our way home where she crept out of the crate and under the bed. It took some time and coaxing to get her to come out, but eventually she did.

By the next day you would never have guessed anything bad had occurred. She was jumping up on the furniture and wandering around seemingly pain free. Even better, she hasn't chewed or bothered with her stitched area at all. Wouldn't it be nice to bounce back like that after surgery? She will go back next week for stitch removal and in the mean time she is back to her affectionate (but not randy)self!