We had hoped to TNR Minnie, the mama cat of the five kittens we caught a couple of weeks (they were 6 weeks at the time). The problem is that she had other plans, and she hasn't really come back around in the past couple of weeks. I know the we made a mistake by catching the kittens before TNRing Minnie, but my husband was worried that something would happen to them or that she would move them, leaving us with five more cats - and possibly multiple litters of kittens - to deal with later. (He sometimes lets his emotions get the best of him when it comes to the outside cats.)
We know that Minnie has mated at least a couple of times in the past couple of weeks because we've heard it clearly. Now I'm looking a month or two into the future. We have a feeling that she will show herself to us at feeding times when she's close to giving birth, and will probably come around to eat while she's nursing. Our local low cost spay/neuter clinic will spay a female in heat as well as a pregnant female, so I guess that they could spay a lactating feral (I need to verify this, though).
My first choice would be to trap Minnie (hopefully early in pregnancy) and have her spayed to prevent her having future litters. My second choice would be to TNR Minnie when the kittens are weaning/weaned (6-8 weeks) and trap the kittens to have them spayed/neutered and possibly socialized and adopted with the help of local rescue organizations.
What would be more important to you:
1) making sure the kittens are taken care of, even the mama cat doesn't get spayed, or
2) spaying the mama cat while she's lactating, no matter what might happen to the kittens?
We know that Minnie has mated at least a couple of times in the past couple of weeks because we've heard it clearly. Now I'm looking a month or two into the future. We have a feeling that she will show herself to us at feeding times when she's close to giving birth, and will probably come around to eat while she's nursing. Our local low cost spay/neuter clinic will spay a female in heat as well as a pregnant female, so I guess that they could spay a lactating feral (I need to verify this, though).
My first choice would be to trap Minnie (hopefully early in pregnancy) and have her spayed to prevent her having future litters. My second choice would be to TNR Minnie when the kittens are weaning/weaned (6-8 weeks) and trap the kittens to have them spayed/neutered and possibly socialized and adopted with the help of local rescue organizations.
What would be more important to you:
1) making sure the kittens are taken care of, even the mama cat doesn't get spayed, or
2) spaying the mama cat while she's lactating, no matter what might happen to the kittens?
. This is what I would do, for what's it's worth. If Minnie comes back, trap her right away and have her spayed right away even if she is pregnant. I know that is super difficult but there are too many unwanted kittens. If she has the kittens and brings them to you, hopefully she will, then Trap her and the kittens, all of them and bring them indoors if you can. If you don't have a spare room then a large cage will suffice. She cannot be spayed while lactating. Once the kittens are weaned, her milk will dry up and she can then be spayed and released back outside. The later will be much more work than just getting her spay/aborted and will take many weeks of your time and commitment. But Minnie must not be allowed back outside until she is done nursing and is spayed. Or this cycle will keep repeating itself :shame: In answer to which is better.... IMO neither is. 
There is no quick way around this if she brings the kittens to you. She will need to nurse them and she can't be spayed until her milk starts to dry up. The only other option, which I wouldn't do, if you are in a panic to get her spayed quickly, would be to take her kittens and hand raise them. That would make me sad and I could not do that. 
