Whether you are a cat owner or admirer, you can’t deny how mysterious and fascinating these furry creatures are to us. When cats are in heat, they let out a powerful pheromone capable of reaching male cats up to a mile away. Once a female lets out this powerful hormone, it will lure many potential mating partners.
If you’d like to learn more about the behavior of male and female cats during the heat cycle, keep reading the article below. Make sure to check out ways you can keep your pets safe during this time.
How Long Does a Cat’s Estrous Cycle Last?
The average estrous cycle of a queen (intact female) lasts about 7 days, while the range can be between 2 and 19 days.1 If the queen mates, she will ovulate and the heat will pass within 24 to 48 hours.2 The female cat will undergo several estrous cycles during the breeding season. These cycles are usually 14 to 21 days apart, and only pregnancy can interrupt this cycle.
How Do You Know Your Cat is in Heat?
There are plenty of signs that indicate your female cat is in heat. One of the most noticeable symptoms is the overly affectionate behavior of a cat, wanting your attention constantly. Other signs may include:
How Good is a Cat’s Sense of Smell?
Cats need their fantastic sense of smell to hunt for food and sense when danger might be coming. Since cats rely on their sense of smell to gather information about their surroundings and hunt, this sense is incredibly developed. The primary sense allows them to identify the people, objects, and animals around them. To understand just how intricate their sense of smell is, you need to know that while humans have only around 5 or 6 million odor sensors in the nose, cats are thought to have more than 200 million!
How Far Can a Male Cat Sense a Female in Heat?
When female cats are in heat, they release chemical messengers to attract their male counterparts. These pheromones must be powerful enough to attract as many potential mating partners as possible. Male cats can sense a female in heat from around a mile away. While males are mostly the ones who run after the females trying to mate, the females can also track down a potential mate by sniffing the territorial markings of the male. This ability to sense a female so far away can be very dangerous for domestic city cats because they can easily get lost or hurt in their adventures. You may notice your cat trying to escape through a window or over the fence in an attempt to find the female cat it can sense.
This behavior can be extremely dangerous, especially if you live in an apartment building, as male cats often hurt themselves by jumping out of the window. If you are worried about the safety of your male cat, you might want to look into neutering options, as it can drastically improve your cat’s quality of life.
Benefits of Spaying and Neutering Cats
There are plenty of benefits to spaying and neutering a cat. Besides preventing overpopulation and unwanted litters, this procedure can even save the life of your pet. Your male will not go searching for a female in heat, lowering the risk of injuries and death. The most significant benefit of spaying a female cat is lowering the risks of possible diseases such as pyometra (womb infection),breast, and ovarian tumors.
Males are less likely to become aggressive and will have a lower risk of getting testicular tumors. Your female cat will be safe from all the potential unwanted male guests, as it won’t attract them anymore after being spayed.
The last and most significant advantage of spaying and neutering pets is helping to solve overpopulation in shelters, which leads to millions of euthanized animals worldwide.
Conclusion
In general, male cats can smell a female in heat from about a mile away. Hopefully, you’ll now be prepared to care for your male and female cats during the mating season. If you are scared about their safety or worry they might run away in search of a female partner, consider the option of neutering your pet. It could bring countless health benefits to your cat, as well as stop them from wandering.
Featured Image Credit: Peter Lam CH, Unsplash
