May 1 kittens not weaned yet!

[evnshawn]

Pepsi's five kittens were born May 1. We are quickly coming up on the time when we will need to find homes for them (and get her spayed), but the problem is that she has not weaned them. She still will wake them up to nurse. Only for a minute, but still. These little guys are eating dry kitten food and have been for some time, and all are happy with it. I truly don't think they need her mik.

According to the timeline I got from a website where you put in your kittens' DOB, they should have been weaned a month ago. What do I do? I don't want to give them away before they are weaned, but they are 10 weeks old!

 

[hissy]

At ten weeks old she doesn't need to be nursing. Take her in and get her spayed, that will help stop the nursing urge and the milk will dry up.

 

[gayef]

Queens will continue to nurse as long as the kittens want to, but if the babies are all eating on their own, they do not need to nurse. As Hissy says, spaying your girl will stop her milk and prevent future unwanted pregnancies.

 

[evnshawn]

Well, that's a relief. At least I can do something about it. We had tentatively planned to have her spayed in the next week or two, but since the general advice is to wait until the kittens are weaned, I was starting to wonder if we'd have to put it off. I'm not too worried about more kittens, as she is not at all inclined to go outside, even when in heat (maybe because our neutered males attempt to, er, attend to her needs), but of course we want her to have all the health benefits of being spayed.

We're going to have to sedate her to get her into the carrier (we've already had a few aborted spay appointments because of her disinclination, to put it mildly, to be in the carrier), so I guess we will just keep the kittens away from her after we give her the meds in case they can get into her breastmilk.

 

[cjandbilly]

My kittens are 13 weeks old, and I can't get them to stop nursing, either! Poor CJ!

 

[hissy]

Cassie, you need to stop the nursing by letting momcat have her own down time- it is hard on the females to continue lactating beyond what nature usually has them scheduled for. Her health could start to suffer. Separate her from her kittens for awhile, she is going to get to the point where she will start driving them away soon anyway-

 

[scamperfarms]

Dutchy is spayed, has been for a while. and she still lets the kids over for a little nurse once in a while. there is no milk to be had. and she doesnt let them do it long. I think its just a comfort thing. Silly kitties

 

[kluchetta]

My vet is inclined to think that the extended nursing of 8 kittens is what at least contributed to the momcat's getting very sick.

She's getting better, though, and she's not nursing anymore, even though the kittens "ask" occasionally.
-Kim

 

[cjandbilly]

I've noticed that CJ fights them away more often... I stop them all the time, but they still get a suck or two every now and then.

 

[commonoddity042]

my may 1 kittens were weaned about a month ago and mom's been spayed for a few weeks now. I agree that the mom in this case should be spayed now to prevent any health issues.