When to release a lactating female with kittens of unknown age

moxiewild

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So I’ve posted about this before, but I’m having a big ‘ol black feral cat problem in 4 (!!!!) of my colonies.

In one colony I’m working on, I’ve been able to distinguish two via trail cam. One was smaller and slightly fluffy, the other always had a sort of cowlick going on and a differently shaped face.

I can’t always see these features on the camera depending on lighting and angle, but I knew there were at least these two black females, and no other black cats seemed to definitively look distinct.

I noticed one of the black cats was pregnant a couple of weeks ago, but I couldn’t tell who it was. Our feeding schedule has changed, and I don’t have good lighting or space to view all of the bowls/cats anymore. I also can’t tell the black cats apart in person.

Anyway, last week I managed to trap a black female, and the spay/neuter clinic confirmed she had been mid-pregnancy. Whew, we got her in time, I thought.

But no, we’re talking about black cats here, so of course this isn’t the end of it 😂

While she was still recovering, lo and behold, a very pregnant black cat shows up to eat. Again, I really can’t quite tell who this is, but she’s definitely quite pregnant -

C831894F-F17D-4B7D-9648-D3CF12720847.jpeg


(Sorry for the quality, it’s a photo of the trail cam screen.)

So, I go back out trapping as soon as my clinic’s feral day comes around, and I manage to trap a small black female yesterday morning.

Usually, I’d drop her off at the clinic at 6:00 am, then come pick her up at 2:00 pm later that day, but around noon the clinic called and told us a machine was down, so they couldn’t perform any more surgeries. They told us they would keep her overnight and spay her tomorrow (today).

I eagerly awaited to find out whether she had been pregnant. She had been a late catch and I didn’t have a chance to get a good look at her before dropping her off.

Turns out, she’s recently given birth.

How recently is the question...

Her records say “This is an adult postpartum feline ovariohysterectomy. This cat was still lactating and had very engorged mammary glands.” - That last part has me wondering if “very engorged” is a any indication of how recently she might have given birth? I assume it’s just because she was held overnight though and hadn’t breastfed. Is it a little of both? Impossible to know?

Basically, here’s my dilemma - either there is a third black female I didn’t know about, or this is the same cat as in the photo above, which was taken on the 8th.

If it’s the latter, that means she gave birth a day or two before I trapped her, and has now been away from her newborns for well over 24 hours...

I asked the tech if they had any idea how recently she might have given birth and she didn’t know. I also asked if I should release her tonight because of her kittens and not knowing their age, and she just repeated the standard advice of holding her for 3-5 days 🙄

I don’t know what to do. If this is the same pregnant cat from the photo, then there’s not really an advantage to releasing her after her being away for so long (I really cannot bear to think about this 😭).

But if she has some 2-5 week old kittens, then there is definitely a chance they’ve managed to survive, but still urgently need Momma asap.

I hate releasing females early, but my gut is pretty strongly saying that without knowing how old her kittens are, I should release her this evening as soon as it’s reasonably safe to do so (despite what the tech said).

What do y’all think?
 
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moxiewild

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Just checked on her, and she looks pretty alert. I’m going to offer her some food and maybe give her an hour or so, and then release I think.
 

carebearbaby1

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Trap, spay, release programs release the same day. It's not ideal, but possible. If she might have a litter out there I would release her tonight.
 

Jcatbird

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Just a note, the cat in the photo appears to have underlying striping. Is there a pregnant tabby somewhere?
The TNR here does release quickly. If she is engorged, then she would need relief. I would ask the clinic to notify you in the future if they see a cat is lactating. Seriously. I guess they assumed you knew but getting communication from them would have made this easier on you. :alright: On kitty too. So sorry you are dealing with this stress. There is a very good chance that since you have a Colony with other mothers that another mom may be with the kittens and caring for them. I have seen that a lot in large colonies. A crying baby will draw other mothers. I have seen litters with babies that got swapped around too. One baby gets lost and joins another litter. My Black Bear got scared away from his family and I thought he was gone forever. Nope! He turned up with another litter that I didn’t even know was out there. He was older than the litter too so I know a pregnant mom rescued him before her own babies were born. Cats are great!
 

fionasmom

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I have been exactly in this position over the years. First, no the vet...not even a clinic but my private vet.....did not tell me that the cat had given birth. Even when I confirmed it and called back they said that no note had been made of a pregnancy.

These are my stories...quickly...and to answer your question I would consider releasing her now.

All highly feral cats, not able to even start to domesticate them....

A Russian blue female, years ago, gave birth in the back seat of my husband's car when he left the door opened inadvertently. A few hours later he came out and closed the door and locked the car. For two days the cat meowed around the car and we tried everything to figure out what was going on when I finally looked in the back seat and found two huddled little kittens. We opened the door and the mother grabbed the kittens and brought them to her "den" which was fortunately nearby as we later found out. They both were fine.

Alice and Elise, my two ex ferals who are now house cats, were born under my neighbor's house two years ago. However, I only ever saw the mom, a calico, from a great distance with binoculars at the back of my property so never figured she had given birth. When I trapped the mom my guess is that the kittens were 3 weeks old. I had no clue, they never emerged from under the house, and because I am such a nice person who wants all cats to feel good, I left the mom at the vet for 3 days to recuperate. They also survived...four of them, two my pets, one very feral but on my property, and one killed very early on by a coyote. Mom also killed by coyote, along with dad.

I agree that in your case the colony might have taken over to help the kittens.
 
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