Nursing mom cat's hard teats?

We took in a mother cat and her babies when the babies were 11 days old. The babies are now a little over 5 weeks.
We've had no problems until yesterday, when I noticed momma cat's teats were getting really hard.
Today they are hard as rocks, and are so hard that they're practically hanging flat. I looked up mastitis, but she doesn't seem to have any of the symptoms. Her teats look normal, except they are large and hard. They aren't red, she still has her appetite and no sores / veining / anything else particularly unusual about her teats.
Her kittens are all eating solid food now, but I'm not sure if she's still nursing them or how often, she generally won't nurse if I'm in the room with her, but she has never liked nursing in the first place.

Is she just producing too much milk, or could it be the onset of mastitis? Should I wait and see how it goes over the weekend, or should I call the vet? Anything I can do for her? I'm worried.

And before anyone asks, everyone, kittens included, is getting spayed and neutered before they leave my house.

If you have possiblility to phone the vet and ask advice over the telephone, it would be good. Many vets do so esp with their usual customers.
This being my advice for now.

If your own vet dont answers telephone question, but you know some other vet who does - do so.

You can always "bathe" them tits with good olive oil. Cant hurt and may belp. There may be other good recipes, but olive oil is usually the base in them.

As long you dont do it instead of phoning the vet. Do it while you wait for his telephone hours...


Good luck!

Thanks for the advice.
Unfortunately we don't keep olive oil in the house.
Hopefully the vet will see her tomorrow. I can tell she's not feeling well. If not I'll pick up some olive oil tomorrow. I guess in the mean time I should just put warm water on them, if she lets me. I'm a little skeptical that she will.
I'm starting to think that she is developing mastitis. I've never dealt with lactation issues before, and certainly not mastitis, so I'm feeling pretty bad for her and quite worried. Poor girl.