They can start from 4 months. Make sure she can’t get out and book her in for the op. No advice on how to cope unfortunately - we lived through it with a rescue with an incomplete spay (ovary left behind) - she had to go in for a tidy up. What really annoyed my husband was the tomcat who’d detected it and peed all over our door.

My cat started from 12 weeks and used to present her rear end to my husband 🤣🤣🤭🤭. Everytime he said her name she would stick her butt in the air and make peculiar noises. I made an appointment with the vet for speying at 16 wks. Just make sure she's kept in / away from tom cats till she's fixed.

In the meantime until your appointment, there are a couple things that help, but it's basically a challenging time for the entire household lol. 1. You can try cat nip treats or silver vine to distract her and calm her down. 2. Some cats react well to the pheromone plug ins and calming sprays. 3. There is a massage technique that can help relieve some of the instincts and calm her, I found it by searching on YT for Cat Heat Relief. You've got this!

I recently TNR a stray who was in heat. I found her while doing my regular stray feeding run, yowling her head off, allowing the local tom to grab her by the scruff of her neck and being completely passive in the process. So I grabbed both her and the tom and had them both neutered. He's back in his old stomping grounds. She calmed right down within days of the surgery and was adopted.

We had ours fixed at about 7 months.. Male, now 11 months old. 2 days ago he stole a duster and was humping it. How that is possible I don't know. I took video to show the vet. ( It was after he was done twirking ). I don't know I should laugh or cry. He stayed just as aggressive neusence that he was before being fixed. My son thinks the vet missed something

Get her spayed ASAP. This isn’t comfortable for her either & nothing will stop it other than getting her fixed.

I’m sorry not everyone is showing you compassion & grace. You are doing exactly as you were advised by your vet & what’s right for your little cat. We were in exactly your position back in June but with two little girls 🤯 We found all you can do is offer extra love & understanding to your baby. Ours were so affectionate & had the softest cries, making us feel helpless. Highly recommend catnip/catmint, Feliway Optimum diffusers, silverline sticks, soft blankets to get you through to her spay.

Earplugs!

Panties and patience