My brother runs a tree nursery/ landscaping business that is next to a county animal rescue and people are forever dropping cats off in the woods nearby. One of the cats found it’s way into his garage and had a litter of kittens yesterday. He has them moved into a comfy box in his warm office (and shut in there so she can’t escape). He would like to keep her as a mouser and find homes for the kittens (when they are old enough of course). So my question is how long does he need to wait until he can get her spayed? I’m assuming he’ll at least have to wait until the kittens are gone and she dries up? (PS- before anyone asks, yes, of course, she’ll have shots and I was going to do a FeLV test on her ASAP)
We had a pregnant stray in our barn. We re-homed 3 of her 4 kittens after they were weaned. The 4th was a hider, we never could get our hands on her. We packed up mama and had her spayed. For weeks after, that last kitten nursed on her. So I think as long as the kittens are independent from her, you can get her spayed- she doesn’t have to be “dried up”. But of course check with the vet.
As soon as they’re weaned.
Vets prefer having two weeks between when the kittens are weaned and the mom is spayed, but in the real world, that doesn’t always happen. I have had two mother cat/kitten foster units, and with both of them I got got the mom and kittens spayed on the same day, because I have no room to separate them. In both cases, the kittens nursed occasionally afterwards, and the mothers did fine.
At the shelter I used to work at would have the foster family wean the kittens, and as soon as mom had a mid-line she would be spayed. Usually a couple weeks after weaning.
The TNR program I used to volunteer with would spay a nursing mother if one came in (trapped ferals, so you never knew what you were going to see on that Sunday!). If caretakers knew that the cat was nursing kittens, the vets would do a “side spay” so that she could continue nursing and still protect the incision. (Don’t know how common that is in the “regular” world, though.)
