My spayed feral cat is nursing kittens. Is she producing milk?

Yes she can still nurse the kittens, if she still has milk. Sometimes a queen can also restart making milk. This is great as she will take care of them emotionally, hygienically and teach them everything they need to know, especially if you do not take them away before they are 12 weeks old. If she does not have milk (the kittens will get grouchy and whine ) you will need to feed them with kitten formula. You can find out their age by weighing them. For each week of age they are 3.5 oz , so if they are three weeks old they would weigh about 10.5 oz. If you are not sure that mama has milk, take her to your vet who can check that for you. Thank you for taking in those kittens.

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

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! If she is no longer near where the kittens would be then you will have to assume she is done. I would give her a month or so to dry out. It does take time after kittens are weaned for the milk to stop coming, so finding milk still present isn't abnormal. There is not real way to tell otherwise. She will go back in to heat soon so keep her indoors. I wish you the best!

Yes, this is normal. All momma cats are different in the amount that they will allow the kittens to nurse. Most kittens will nurse as long as mom will allow it. It is comforting to both parties. The behavior will not likely be changed by the operations for the kittens. If mom is getting spayed as well, she may not let them nurse anymore. There is no harm in the nursing behavior unless you start to notice an area starts to look red, swollen or chafed. If mom is also getting spayed, that does change things. The kittens should not be allowed to nurse or exhibit any type of that behavior as they could compromise the incision. They cannot lick at any of the incisions! I hope this is helpful and please feel free to post any additional questions.

This is quite odd behavior, but she is likely taking care of them since her other kittens passed away. I don't know of any ill side effects except maybe becoming overweight or an upset tummy from the change in diet. I would try to separate them so that the 5 month old kittens don't get over weight from nursing and eating regular cat food. Also the kittens could cause some harm to the mothers mammary tissue since they have teeth now. Also I would recommend to spay or neuter the kittens and mom to prevent any additional litters if at all possible. If either of the kittens are male it could mate with the litter mate or mother causing some kittens to be born with some serious genetic defects. Plus if the mother isn't nursing her new kittens then she likely won't properly nurse her upcoming litters. If you are unable to fix all of them, you may want to start with any of the males. I hope this helps!

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!

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.