New Mother Kitty

Question
Hi,
First of all I experienced something unusual with this Kitty. We got her from a pet store at Christmas time(2005).
She appeared to be 6 to 8 weeks old. Three days ago she had 6 kittens. About the time I was going to take her to get her spade, I noticed she looked pregnant. She showed no signs of being in heat, and no males came around. I tell friends that I think she was raped. I want to avoid her getting pregnant again. My question is how quick will she come back in heat? I always thought as long as the mother was nursing she wouldn't come back in, but I want to be sure. Oh, the kittens are doing great and she is the best little mother. My baby had babies!

Thank you!
Alicia

Answer
She will likely come back into heat before the kittens are fully mature. You can find many articles on the subject if you search google.com - use the keywords, cats, heat, often and you will find that cats have a season and will come into heat many times and quickly. Since you planned to have her spayed anyway there is no reason to not do that now. While she is  not in heat is the safe time to have her spayed. I have heard of many cases of folks who have taken in a stray mommy who was being a great mom and then suddenly escaped and disappeared leaving the kittens behind - usually becasue she has come into heat again. You house cat won't likely run off but you should really go ahead with your plans to have her spayed. Just call your vet and schedule it. And you should also be getting the kittens to the vet as well. Since you had this odd experience with the cat and her history perhaps not being what the pet store told you it was, I really think you should have her and the kittens checked by your vet. It seems to be that the pet store may not have told you the truth about things and you should really get mom a vet check up to be sure all else is OK with her. You may even want to consider reporting the pet store's practices to the aspca or other local authorities. In any event, the kittens will need to see the vet for certain tests, innoculations and deworming. Also, since the kittens are so young, you should be aware that as a young mom-cat, she may need your assistance. She may not be producing enough milk even though she is being a good mom. You can help her by supplementing the kittens diet with bottle fed kitten formula. You can buy the formula mix at good pet stores along with tiny bottle to feed with. And if you feed them, you must remember to rub their tummies after every meal to stimulate them to urinate and defecate becasue they cannot do that on their own for several weeks. Kittens are at their most vulnerable for the first couple weeks of their lives and often appear to be doing well and then suddenly start to fade away and eventually die. Please get them proper vet care and help the young mom out and, if you do all that, they should have a good chance to make it through the critical times and grow up strong.