My momma cat still has milk. Is she done nursing? Can I spay her?

If Naomi still is full of milk, there is potentially more risk of bleeding and/or infection. We generally recommend that kittens be kept away from mom and not allowed to nurse for at least 2 weeks before the mom is spayed. I would recommend contacting your vet today and let them know what is going on and have them help you decide if you should delay her surgery. Good luck! I hope that was helpful. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

Hello, thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. As long as the mom will let them nurse she will make milk. I would not call it abnormal but it is not really good for them to nurse after 8 weeks of age. They actually become lactose intolerant after that time and even though they seem OK it could cause them issues in the long run. The mother usually stops the kittens from nursing around 8 weeks of age because they will get teeth and start biting the nipples making her uncomfortable. They must not be doing that since she is still allowing them to do it. The mom continuing to make milk also puts a strain on her body nutritionally and she may get underweight and unthrifty. It is best to separate the mom from the kittens until the milk dries up and then have mom spayed. Hope this helps. Best wishes.

It is possible that she has milk. Let mama tend to them but keep bottle feeding them. If they are not hungry because they got enough milk from mama, they will drink less or not at all. She is obviously a very good mama. Suckling is also an important comfort factor, even if there is no milk. It gives the kittens security and bonds. Leave them with their mama until they are 12 weeks old. She will teach them everything they need to know including how to use the litter box, what to eat and what not, hunting, etc., and you will get well adjusted kittens without behavioral problems. And thank you for taking such good care of them! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further. Please take the time to mark this question as helpful or not as it helps us to improve on the quality of our answers to other pet owners. Thank you kindly!

Yes you are correct about your thoughts. It does hurt when they nurse now with their little teeth, and after three weeks they are old enough to start eating solid food. I’m glad you are starting to feed them. You can give wet kitten food now four times daily and add warm water to it to make it very wet. Usually having them lick it off your finger by the dish will teach them to eat. Just let the Mom go in and out as she wants and she’ll gradually wean them herself. Once her milk is dried up it’s a good time to spay her as she can get pregnant again soon afterwards. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you care for your kittens.

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Fiona may be having a hormonal imbalance triggered by the kitten coming in to the house called a false pregnancy . I would check her mammary glands by trying to express them to see if milk comes out. There may not be any milk there but the kitten may nurse on them anyway. If there is milk Fiona and the kitten need to be separated until the milk is gone and the kitten needs to be prevented from nursing off her. If there is no milk in her glands I see no harm in it. I wish you the best!

There are no signs of mastitis from those pictures but there is no way to know about milk production from the photo. If the kitten have not eaten in a week they wiukd not have made it this long so they are getting something. At that age you can syringe milk to them or try kitten food to wean them. If she has milk still you would be able to express some

You can get Sugar spayed even though her kitten still tries to nurse. It's fine. When she is recovering, you should keep her in a large crate or a small room by herself to limit movement and allow healing, and that hopefully should break the habit of the kitten nursing. She will need to be alone for two weeks.