Young Stray's Litter did not survive, when to spay mama

A young stray cat had her litter of five kittens on the patio yesterday. When I found them one of the kitten's was dead. The mama acted like she was not interested in them. She looks very young, so I think this is probably her first litter. I put them in a box and kept them warm. They seemed okay. Later that evening the mama seemed interested and got into the box. I thought she was tending to them so I went to bed.

Unfortunately I found the babies did not survive.  We buried them in the flower bed.  Poor liitle things. The mama is hanging around on the roof.  I would like to take her and have her spayed so this doesn't happen again.  Assuming I can trap her, when is the appropriate time to take her? Does she need to recover from the birth first?

Do it soon. Since she's lost her kittens, this will make her go back into heat sooner than usual. Call the vet/clinic you plan to use to ask what timing they prefer.

Agreed. Please bring her in as soon as possible. So sorry about the kittens.

Thanks for replying talkingpeanut and Willowy. I will call the clinic tomorrow and ask them when to bring her. Poor little mama cat.

Thank you for spaying her. I agree about sooner rather than later. Let us know how she's doing.

I would call the vet and ask what they recommend, but from my experiences the sooner the better. I've had them go into heat when their litter is only two weeks old, they could possibly have 4 litters in a year. I'm so sorry for the kittens, it breaks my heart to know they didn't even begin to live, She perhaps knew their was something wrong with them, or like you said they were her first litter. She is extremely lucky something didn't go wrong during the birthing, I've lost several who were feral and hid to have their kittens, only to find them dead later, it is such a tragedy. Thank you so much for helping her, she knew where to go for help! Bless you for your kindness.