at my wits end!!

hi everyone. so i recently took in a stray cat and her two sister which were born in my front yard. They're other sister was found at 8 weeks old with wounds and larvae in her neck and was easy to catch since she was ill. Anyway! I was only now able to catch the other two. It took forever to gain their trust. Unfortunately one was pregnant. I will get to the point eventually I promise . Well now the kittens are 10 weeks old but they're still nursing. Not all the time but more than they should. My vet said I cannot have momma fixed until kits are weaned, Is this true? She is currently in heat and howling every night. I keep her in my garage with the kittens . Since she's in heat should I be afraid of her attacking them? I've tried to separate them but she goes bonkers and stresses to where she wont eat. I have no clue what to do. I can't separate them long enough for her milk to dry up and she's driving me insane with the crying.I feel so bad for her. Does being in heat stress them out? This is my first experience with cats and now I have three adults (the other two sisters are spayed ) And 5 kittens !

It does stress them to be in heat. . .but active heat should only last about 7-10 days. Although she might go back into heat again very quickly :/. If she won't be separated from her babies, and your vet absolutely won't spay until she's totally dried up, I guess all you can do is wait for them to totally wean or find a vet who will do the spay. I will say that one of my kitties nursed from his mama until he was nearly a year old. I think she had dried up by then, although we procrastinated on having her spayed so I don't know what the vet would have said if we tried to spay her earlier. But another mama cat I have cut her babies off around 4 months.

If you're keeping the babies (or even if you're not), have them spayed/neutered before 14 weeks. Some females have gone into heat that early, and although males usually mature a bit later, you don't want to risk it.