Getting momma cat spayed questions

Should you wait until the kittens are 100% weaned from the momma, or is it okay that they are still suckling her but eating food and drinking water? She has a little bit of milk left but they're 6 weeks old tomorrow and I figured that was the appropriate time to get her spayed so I made the appt. but now am questioning it.

Also planning on getting her vaccines- is that okay for the kittens at this stage? I just want to be sure nothing gets passed through any leftover milk to the kittens that causes them to get ill or die- i've read in other threads about pregnant mommas being vaccinated then the babies dying- wasn't sure if it was the same for nursing.

I have always waited until my kittens are completely weaned and my moms milk dried up but I dont believe you have to, Im sure others can give you better advice on this. I would not vaccinate her until the kittens are not nursing at all, I lost an entire litter to calicivirus back in October, It was the first and last time I vaccinated a nursng cat, I still believe the live vacine that mom was given is what made the kittens so sick, they had not recieved their first vacines yet, and she was still nursing. I still feel terible for what happened. In fact I would wait until the kittens are 100% weaned and get them and mom their at the same time, or after the kittens have been rehomed, sorry I dont remember if you are keeping any.

Ask your vet. Some vets don't like to spay cats who are still nursing at all because the milk glands get in the way and are hard to cut through. Your vet may have a special technique, though.

Not sure about the vaccines, but because they aren't getting all their nutrition from her milk now, and have developed some of their own immunities, I would guess it's safer than vaccinating a cat who's nursing small kittens. I kept a kitten and he nursed until he was nearly a year old, and he never got sick from her vaccines :lol3:. But he was a lot older by the time she got her shots.

Does she go outside or otherwise have access to a tomcat? Or is she trying to escape? If so, I would have her spayed ASAP and not worry about possible issues. If not, there's no hurry to have her spayed and you can wait until the babies are a bit older.

I got the moms spayed when kittens were 6-8 weeks I let the vet know they were nursing still to make sure they knew and in all the cases the moms came home and continued nursing-one until over 3 months old!  I don't do vaccines unless its an outside cat then they get rabies so not much input on that.
 

I would wait until they are 10-11 weeks old, then you can take them all in together to be done.

It does also depend on the vet, I recently retired one of my breeding queens, she was desexed when the litter were 10 weeks and she was still very full of milk. Came home and immediately nursed her litter.

I would also hold of on vaccinating her until the kittens are older.

Willowy said:

Ask your vet. Some vets don't like to spay cats who are still nursing at all because the milk glands get in the way and are hard to cut through. Your vet may have a special technique, though.
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The usual spay method in the UK is through the cat's flank, so no problems with her mammaries, but vets here (or my vet) still don't like to spay a cat that is feeding her kittens.  20 years ago my then vet was happy to spay my girl when her kittens were 6-8 weeks old (I can't remember now) and she carried on feeding them until her favourite went at 12 or 13 weeks. 

The rescue organization I foster for will spay the mamas anytime after the kittens are 6 weeks old and will vaccinate kittens at 6 weeks as well.