Q. My Cassie isn't quite a year old and she's been going into heat every other week. My question is will she urinate to mark her territory if she is trying to gain dominance in the house? Our 5-year-old spayed female, Nola, keeps trying to mate with my little one when in heat. For the past two nights one of my cats urinated on my bed, and I'm wondering if it was Cassie, as Nola has never done this in the past. Cassie goes next week to be spayed, but in the meantime I would appreciate your help. Thank you.

Q. I own a 2-year-old female Persian, and currently she is in heat. This is her second time. She started going into heat about a year ago and when she goes into heat, she is extremely noisy. I reluctantly brought my friend's male cat to our home to breed with her, and she became pregnant and had one kitten. However, the baby died a week later because my Persian wasn't producing milk. She is currently in heat again; it's been about five days and I really don't want her to mate again because I am very protective of her and I don't want her to get hurt in any way. I was wondering how long it will take her to come out of heat and how long before she goes into heat again and whether it is safe to spay her.

A. Cats are induced ovulators, which means that during certain times of the year, particularly late winter and spring, they will go in and out of heat until they are bred. This means that your cats could continue this behavior for some time. Spaying a cat when it is in heat is a little more troublesome than spaying them when they are not in heat, but most veterinarians do this on a routine basis. In fact, during February through May it is hard to find a cat that is not in some phase of her heat cycle to spay. Please make arrangements to have your cats spayed as soon as possible.