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you let her go right away, there is a decent chance you’ll be able to re-trap the mom laterand prevent future births.At Neighborhood Cats, we favor fixing the nursing mom, holding her overnight andthen releasing her the next morning if all appears well. Our policy is to make decisionsbased on what we do know, not on what we don’t. We don’t know if there are any youngkittens whose lives depend on the mother being released immediately. We do know wehave a fertile female in the trap and the opportunity to get her spayed.If you know ahead of time that you’ll spay a nursing mom if you catch one, try tomake contingency plans to get her to surgery as quickly as possible. This may meanasking the veterinarian to spay her before your other cats or getting her to the clinicsooner than the scheduled spay/neuter date.A spayed mom cat can still nurse her kittens – thesurgery does not affect her ability to produce milk. If youdon’t discover a female is nursing until she’s already on thesurgery table, you should always go ahead and have herfixed.Before releasing a nursing mom who was just spayed,lift her trap and, from below, examine her carefully for anycomplications, like bleeding or swelling at the site of theincision. If you see anything of concern or if the cat appearsunusually lethargic, consult your veterinarian about the bestcourse of action.• Litters of known age, but unknown locationA caretaker may have observed one of her cats was pregnant and be able toapproximate, based on the shrinkage of her belly, when she gave birth and thus the age ofthe kittens. If you do know how old the kittens are, even if you don’t know where theyare, it will make it simpler to decide what to do if you trap their mom.If you know the kittens are less than two weeks old, you should release the motherright away. It’s one thing if you have no idea how old the kittens are and whether theywould perish if you hold onto their mom for at least a day. It’s an entirely differentmatter when you do know the kittens are too young to survive without her. Thecompassionate choice in this case is to release the mother and try to catch the family at alater time. The sooner you let the mom out of the trap, the less traumatic the experiencefor her and the better your chance of trapping her again later.If the kittens are older than two weeks, the risk of harm if their mom is gonetemporarily decreases the older they are. Again, there is no single right answer. Sometrappers will always let the mom go until the kittens show up and can be caught, too;others will always spay the mom first before releasing. If you’re more flexible, contextmay be the key – given the colony’s environment and dedication of the caretaker, howlikely is it you’ll be able to re-trap the mother if you let her go immediately? If you judgeit unlikely, you might decide spaying the mom is worth the risk to the kittens. If recaptureseems likely, then releasing her at once could be a reasonable decision.84