So I had Sunny spayed a week ago. Her babies are 11 weeks old. After her spay she was both indifferent and sometimes hostile to them. Perfectly normal I figured, she was in pain. The vet said she would have no more milk after the spay. Today I walked in and she was nursing Oreo! I separated them because she is still recovering. Is this normal behaviour?? Oh a few days ago one of the kittens went to her new home. Would that have anything to do with it?
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spayed mother cat nursing kittens
- Thread starter tracy46
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My cat was spayed when her kittens were 8 weeks old. She was back nursing the same day, and continued to nurse for many more weeks. No need to separate them at all!
This is true, but not always.
I had a momma cat and one of her kids at adoptions today, kitten is about 10 weeks old, both were fixed last Weds.
Kitten was nursing here and there, so I pulled him out in to his own crate, and saw her nipples are each quite red and very sore looking, no swelling, just the nipples themselves, and one had a green color to it.
Not the surrounding area but clearly sore and she is now done and will be carefully monitored.
The thing of it is, at 11 weeks he doesn't need to be nursing anymore, these are not kittens who rely solely on moms milk like ferals, and the older the kitten is, the harder they suck and the more strong and big their teeth are, really torturing mom.
If they are separated for a bit he will stop, she will stop allowing it and dry up
I had a momma cat and one of her kids at adoptions today, kitten is about 10 weeks old, both were fixed last Weds.
Kitten was nursing here and there, so I pulled him out in to his own crate, and saw her nipples are each quite red and very sore looking, no swelling, just the nipples themselves, and one had a green color to it.
Not the surrounding area but clearly sore and she is now done and will be carefully monitored.
The thing of it is, at 11 weeks he doesn't need to be nursing anymore, these are not kittens who rely solely on moms milk like ferals, and the older the kitten is, the harder they suck and the more strong and big their teeth are, really torturing mom.
If they are separated for a bit he will stop, she will stop allowing it and dry up
When kittens nurse they knead and their dirty little paws could be all over mom's incision which is both painful and dangerous. However, if you are now a week post-op, the wound should have healed enough that no new bacteria would be introduced into the wound.
We had a stray momma and her babies here. Babies were 10 weeks old when mom was spayed and almost 12 weeks when mom went to her new home. The last two kittens would regularly try to nurse off her right until the day she left; I got the impression it was starting to be just a comfort thing and not at all a food thing because they ate like little horses. After mom left one of the kittens tried to nurse off my male dog - he wasn't happy.
I don't think the behaviour is abnormal, but if you want it to stop they would have to be separated from mom to give her milk a chance to dry up. Now that she is spayed the hormone changes themselves can cause her milk to dry up but there will be hormones in her system for at least a couple of weeks.
We had a stray momma and her babies here. Babies were 10 weeks old when mom was spayed and almost 12 weeks when mom went to her new home. The last two kittens would regularly try to nurse off her right until the day she left; I got the impression it was starting to be just a comfort thing and not at all a food thing because they ate like little horses. After mom left one of the kittens tried to nurse off my male dog - he wasn't happy.
I don't think the behaviour is abnormal, but if you want it to stop they would have to be separated from mom to give her milk a chance to dry up. Now that she is spayed the hormone changes themselves can cause her milk to dry up but there will be hormones in her system for at least a couple of weeks.
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Thanks Aprilc. I think it is comfort nursing, her nipples ate very tiny now. Her wound is no longer open at all, looks awesome so if she is OK with it I will let them be. Keeping them separated is so much work! I have 3 young kids too so someone is always opening the door and letting them in or out!
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OK so another update on Sunny and her baby. We found good homes for all but one, we wanted to keep one so its fine. The weird thing is that Oreo Tookie is 5 months old and Sunny still nurses her!! Tookie is the correct spelling, I have a 2 year old
. Is this normal, or is it because she sees me still nursing my 2 year old? She is really smart and close to me.
. Is this normal, or is it because she sees me still nursing my 2 year old? She is really smart and close to me.
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It's normal. It's for comfort more than nutrition. Are they both fixed? You could have a problem shortly if not.
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I see my answer now that the threads are joined.
I would say it's probably best to not have mama kitty nurse (regardless of whether the kittens should or not) after having surgery. She has a wound on her belly and it needs to heal.
I have two male kittens that were neutered at about 11 weeks. The one likes to suckle the other's *armpit* and I was told not to allow them to do that while they were healing. Obviously, neutering isn't nearly as intense as a spay, and the armpit is nowhere near the location of the incision. But stitches can get torn nonetheless apparently.
I have two male kittens that were neutered at about 11 weeks. The one likes to suckle the other's *armpit* and I was told not to allow them to do that while they were healing. Obviously, neutering isn't nearly as intense as a spay, and the armpit is nowhere near the location of the incision. But stitches can get torn nonetheless apparently.
