How soon after birth can momma get spayed?

A lady I know has a female that got pregnant by "accident". She had 5 kittens, I believe. Before they were weaned, she again got pregnant and now she got 9 kittens! She didn't know that they could go into heat again while she was still nursing. I don't know their ages, but how soon after birth can a momma cat be spayed? I beleve they must be around 2 mo. of age by now, so I'm sure it can be done now. But just how soon can it be done, though? Like right away, or should the kittens be a few weeks old or something?
Just for curiosity's sake; what would one do with the kittens while momma is in for surgery; do they go with her if they aren't weaned?
By the way, me and her best friend are both trying to convince her that NOW is the best time to get it done... I think she's so busy and doesn't take the time, but I know she's planning on it "eventually". Eventually could easily get her another litter, though, and I know she's stressed about that...

The mammary (breast) development that comes with nursing can make the spay surgery more difficult. Ideally, a month after weaning allows for regression of this tissue and spaying can proceed. Unfortunately, as you already know it is possible for a female cat to become pregnant during this waiting period if her owner is not careful.

talk to your vet, mine wouldnt do it until three months after the kittens birth.

i think all vets have their own ideas about whats the right time so you need to ask them i'm afraid

until its done though please make sure your friend keeps the mama cat indoors. if anything happened to her your friend's stress levels would be greatly compunded by having to bottle feed the babies not to mention as she sadly found out, she can and will get pregant again very quickly

It can be done immediately with no negative effects for either the mother or the kittens.

However, 6 weeks would probably be ideal. At that age the first litter is well into the weaning process (so if Mom is sore and doesn't want them nursing for a few days, or if the mammary glands are accidentally cut - which incidentally is not common - they will be fine anyway), but if Mom did happen to get pregnant again the pregnancy will still be in the very early stage. So I think it's a good middle ground.

Originally Posted by maverick_kitten

talk to your vet, mine wouldnt do it until three months after the kittens birth.

i think all vets have their own ideas about whats the right time so you need to ask them i'm afraid

until its done though please make sure your friend keeps the mama cat indoors. if anything happened to her your friend's stress levels would be greatly compunded by having to bottle feed the babies

not to mention as she sadly found out, she can and will get pregant again very quickly

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Unfortunately, this is an outside-only cat. I don't believe they'll be able to prevent a pregnancy in the way they keep their cat these days. I think the alternative to keeping the cat outside, would be to have no cat at all.
I don't know this lady well enough to be telling her what she should and shouldn't do. I try to encourage her to get the spaying done, but it's not my place to go at it more than I already did. But I want to know these things so that I'll know what to tell her if she's wanting to know. She previously thought that you couldn't spay as long as momma cat is nursing, but appearantly she can, especially if the waits a few weeks. I know it definitely has been at least 6 weeks.

We took in a pregnant stray last summer, and we had her spayed when the kittens were at 10 weeks. She was fine and so were the kittens. We had been working on weaning about three weeks by then and we had gotten three of the four kittens to their new owners while she was at the vet. Our cats are strictly indoors though, so recurrent pregnancy was not an issue.

Oddly enough, the kitten we kept, who is a little over four months old, still tries to nurse occasionally. We discourage it whenever we see him do it, but she doesn't..I imagine that he sneaks it in when we're not around. Goofy little kid I'm having him neutered soon so hopefully he'll finally give it up.