After giving birth how soon can a cat become pregnant again?

We have a wild cat with 3 babies that are about 4 months old. When can the mother cat become pregnant again and when do we need to have the babies spayed and neutered?

Editor's note: Thank you for taking care of these kitties!

The mother cat can become pregnant within two weeks. Interestingly, cats can also become pregnant while pregnant! Please see Dr. Arnold Plotnick's answer on feline pregnancy for more on this.

The kittens should be spayed or neutered as soon as possible, but you'll have to check with your vet about the exact schedule.

Some vets recommend the procedure at 6 months or even one year, but there have been advocates of so-called early spay neuter that recommend much earlier than that.

For example, in this article from the ASPCA...

"It is generally considered safe for kittens as young as eight weeks old to be spayed or neutered. In animal shelters, surgery is often performed at this time so that kittens can be sterilized prior to adoption."

It's somewhat controversial, but some vets may go by this time table.

And then there's the "Fix at Four" campaign...



Watch on YouTube

My personal choice is to wait until at least 4 months and work with a vet who is in agreement with that time table. Obviously, the mama cat should be fixed as soon as possible!

If the mother cat is too wild to handle and you need help trapping her, you may want to call local rescue groups that do Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) work, find out what vet they work with, and so on.

Here's information on low cost spay and neuter programs in the US.

Keep us updated on their progress!
-Kurt