heat cycle of cat

Question
I have a female cat who moved in on us and has had a litter 12 days ago. Yesterday she started acting like she's in heat. Is that possible while nursing kittens and if so can she get pregnant while nursing?

Answer
Kim,

It's quite possible that your queen is in heat, in fact some momma cats can get pregnant as early as 24 hours after giving birth and unlike human moms lactation doesn't hinder the cat's ability to become pregnant. I'd strongly suggest that you keep mom indoors, away from any intact male cats until she weans her kittens which should happen within 8-9 weeks or so without human intervention. Once mom's milk supply dries up, which usually happens 2 weeks or so after she stops nursing then she should be spayed ASAP to prevent her from becoming pregnant again and contributing to the already serious pet overpopulation issue. Millions of perfectly healthy and adoptable cats, kittens and other pets are euthanized in shelters every week of the year throughout North America simply because the number of people willing to offer a safe, stable forever home for these pets simply isn't high enough to meet each homeless pet's need for loving people to care for them. Spaying your queen will also offer health and behavioral benefits in the long and short term and I'd be happy to go over that information with you if you're interested in learning more about the advantages of spaying and neutering our much loved pets.

It's important for the kittens to stay with mom and their littermates for at least 12 weeks so that they can learn the basic skills they need in order to be happy, healthy and well balanced cats that behave appropriately throughout their lives (all things being equal). If you'd like I can offer you advice and information about the developmental stages of the kittens, providing mom with an adequate amount of a high quality species appropriate diet most cat foods on the market have fairly large amounts of cheap fillers and less than adequate quality protein sources which doesn't do any cat any favors, especially a nursing queen and her rapidly growing babies. I'll be happy to answer any questions or address any cat related concerns that you might have, so please don't hesitate to contact me again and I will do my absolute best to help you and your feline companion(s) out in any way that I can.