Mother cats hard, lumpy tummy

Question
I am in the process of taming a formerly domesticated (she has been in the wild for a couple of years) mother cat who has 3 kittens, approx. 6-8 weeks old (educated guess). I don't know if she is still nursing them or not, although we have found feathers near where she keeps them, so she probably caught a bird to feed them one evening.  We have been feeding her canned and dry food, and for the first time she allowed me to pet her (for about 15 min.!) last night, then again this morning. When I put my hands under her belly to pick her up, I noticed that she has hard, wide ridges which encompass all her nipples on both sides, and up onto her lower chest.  They don't seem to be painful for her, or hot, or anything that distress her.  I'm concerned, though, since none of my cats have ever had a litter - we spay/neuter just as soon as they're old enough, as we plan for this Mom whenever she brings her kittens to us so that we can care for them while she's at the vet.  Is the condition of her tummy normal for a mother cat with kittens?

Answer
Patty,

It sounds to me as if the mama cat is weaning her kittens and her milk is drying up (we call it "packing" up).  I would leave her be and it should dissipate in a couple of weeks.  The kittens are probably now all on solid food and she can be spayed once the milk is gone.

Best regards... Norm.