We had hoped to TNR Minnie, the mama cat of the five kittens we caught a couple of weeks (they were 6 weeks at the time). The problem is that she had other plans, and she hasn't really come back around in the past couple of weeks. I know the we made a mistake by catching the kittens before TNRing Minnie, but my husband was worried that something would happen to them or that she would move them, leaving us with five more cats - and possibly multiple litters of kittens - to deal with later. (He sometimes lets his emotions get the best of him when it comes to the outside cats.)
We know that Minnie has mated at least a couple of times in the past couple of weeks because we've heard it clearly. Now I'm looking a month or two into the future. We have a feeling that she will show herself to us at feeding times when she's close to giving birth, and will probably come around to eat while she's nursing. Our local low cost spay/neuter clinic will spay a female in heat as well as a pregnant female, so I guess that they could spay a lactating feral (I need to verify this, though).
My first choice would be to trap Minnie (hopefully early in pregnancy) and have her spayed to prevent her having future litters. My second choice would be to TNR Minnie when the kittens are weaning/weaned (6-8 weeks) and trap the kittens to have them spayed/neutered and possibly socialized and adopted with the help of local rescue organizations.
What would be more important to you:
1) making sure the kittens are taken care of, even the mama cat doesn't get spayed, or
2) spaying the mama cat while she's lactating, no matter what might happen to the kittens?
We know that Minnie has mated at least a couple of times in the past couple of weeks because we've heard it clearly. Now I'm looking a month or two into the future. We have a feeling that she will show herself to us at feeding times when she's close to giving birth, and will probably come around to eat while she's nursing. Our local low cost spay/neuter clinic will spay a female in heat as well as a pregnant female, so I guess that they could spay a lactating feral (I need to verify this, though).
My first choice would be to trap Minnie (hopefully early in pregnancy) and have her spayed to prevent her having future litters. My second choice would be to TNR Minnie when the kittens are weaning/weaned (6-8 weeks) and trap the kittens to have them spayed/neutered and possibly socialized and adopted with the help of local rescue organizations.
What would be more important to you:
1) making sure the kittens are taken care of, even the mama cat doesn't get spayed, or
2) spaying the mama cat while she's lactating, no matter what might happen to the kittens?