Some cats exhibit what is called “silent heat.” The cats are in heat, they develop follicles on their ovaries and are fertile, but they show no behavioral signs of being in heat. These cats will allow a male to mate with them. Silent heat is more commonly seen in cats who are lower down in the social hierarchy.
The normal estrous cycle of a cat consists of several stages; the estrus stage refers to when the female is sexually receptive or is in heat. In cats, ovulation must be induced, meaning that they will not ovulate unless mating occurs.
Cats are seasonal breeders and only enter their reproductive cycle at a certain time of year. This generally begins in spring as daylight starts to lengthen, and stops in late Autumn when daylight is reduced.
The time intervals between matings may be as short as 5 minutes or as long as half an hour. A female may allow up to 30 matings, and studies have shown that if only one single mating is allowed only 50 percent of the queens will get pregnant.
If your cat does not get out of the house to mate during her first heat, she will continue to go through a heat cycle every few weeks until she becomes pregnant or is spayed. This may make it seem like she is constantly in heat. Over time, this may be stressful and unhealthy for your cat.
Cats are induced ovulators, which means that the act of breeding stimulates the release of eggs from the ovaries. Most females require three to four matings within a 24-hour period for ovulation to occur. It only takes a minute or two for cats to mate, and cats may mate multiple times in a short period of time.
On the street, a queen may mate with two or more tom cats over the length of the estrous cycle - up to 21 days, with an average of seven days. Although genetics of the queen may come into play, multi-colored kitten litters will often vividly demonstrate multiple mating.
Once estrous cycles begin, cats may go into heat as often as every 2-3 weeks. Cats are seasonally polyestrus (also spelled polyestrous), meaning they can have multiple cycles during their breeding season. Breeding season would normally be during warmer weather and longer daylight hours.
Certain environmental factors like temperature and access to potential mates can cause it to happen sooner or later. Certain breeds—like Siamese cats—may go into heat as early as 4 months, while other breeds may not go into heat until around 10 months of age. Larger-sized cats may also take a bit longer to mature.
Attempting to breed cats in a stressful environment may be associated with lower breeding success. "An anxious tomcat, or one that has had negative experiences associated with breeding in the past, may be reluctant to mate with a female." Less commonly, testicular diseases can contribute to infertility.
Mating Behavior
If tomcats pick up the cues, they will assemble around the females and engage in noisy, violent catfights with rivals. Courtship between males and the female is ritualized and may last several hours before copulation takes place. Cats about to mate perform pursuit and avoidance behavior.
a) Dogs and cats are not like people when it comes to sex. They don't cycle the same way and there's no evidence, behaviorally or otherwise, that sexual activity brings them any specific pleasure akin to orgasm, for example.
We now know that cats scream during mating because the male's spiked reproductive organs cause pain for the female. Males will occasionally respond with their shouts in response to this.
Male cats will often mark their surroundings with urine and pheromones to attract females and ward off other males. Attempting to mate is an obvious sign that your cat is at the mercy of their hormones. Mating behavior may appear as a cat fight, as the male will pounce on, bite, and growl at the female.
Cats take one to two minutes to mate. Thus they can repeat the process multiple times within a short period. A queen may mate with different tomcats during the heat cycle to make it possible that a litter of kittens may have different fathers.
Unlike our canine companions, cats still have a lot of control over picking their mates. If you have an unspayed queen, they'll likely disappear one night while in heat and come back pregnant, with you none the wiser.
Cats usually mate day and night in short intervals of 5 to 20 minutes. The actual sexual act always lasts only a few seconds.
Yes, this is possible – although it is rare. A queen in heat releases her eggs about 24 hours after mating. Theoretically all sperms that have entered her the past day can fertilize each egg. If she mated with more than one cat within these 24 hours, there can be two (and even three or four) different fathers.
Even if your cat is pregnant, she can still mate with other cats for a few days and can give birth to a litter that has different fathers.
Female cats can get pregnant after just one mating, as long as the mating is successful and occurs during the female's fertile period. The fertile period, or estrus cycle, in cats usually lasts for about a week, and occurs several times throughout the breeding season, which is typically from early spring to late fall.
While cats most likely don't “fall in love” in the romantic sense, they definitely feel love, affection and friendship.
Again, cats don't really fall in love with anyone and anything, unlike human beings. Male and female cats may feel strongly attracted to another cat for a number of reasons. If they're in heat, they'll feel sexual attraction towards other felines.
Even if the male cat, or tom, smells her urinary cologne, hears her flirtatious voice and catches sight of her coquettish dance – all signs of receptivity – he still approaches with caution, and only after she approaches him does he mount her. During copulation, the female will scream and attempt to break free.
Estrus may be induced in queens with follicle-stimulating hormone, 2 mg, IM, the first day, then 0.5–1 mg, IM, daily for 4 additional days. Recommended doses of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) range from 25 to 500 IU.