Question about lactating cat

I trapped a stray this morning, who is still lactating. I was unable to locate the kittens to determine how old they are - but it must either be a small litter, or they are already older, as she is only lactating from two or three of her mammary glands. The cat is currently at the vet, they agreed to spay her right away so that she could be re-released asap. Anyone willing to make a prediction about how long the kittens can survive without her, depending on their age? What's the minimum time (under these circumstances) that I should keep her in recovery? Until she is fully awake, or 24 hours?

is currently at the vet, they agreed to spay her right away so that she could be re-released asap. Anyone willing to make a prediction about how long the kittens can survive without her, depending on their age?

Under 2 weeks of age, not much more than a day. Up to 4 weeks, longer (say, up to 3 days). If they've started to wean, maybe longer.

No one seems able to say for sure. The vets we've asked have been more conservative in their estimates. But as anecdotal evidence, I offer the following:

There was a case reported in these newsgroups of a kitten about 2 weeks old who fell through a crack behind a wall in a house - it took quite a while to figure out that the faint mewling was coming from behind the wall! The kitten wasn't rescued for three days.

My cat Phoenix was about 2 weeks old when we trapped his mother (the last intact female of her feral colony) in March 2002. For various reasons, we couldn't get her back to the colony for over three days. He survived, but admittedly we don't know if he had littermates.

What's the minimum time (under these circumstances) that I should keep her in recovery? Until she is fully awake, or 24 hours?

I'd say a minimum of 24 hours. Not only does she need to work off the drugs, the incision needs to start bonding properly.

Also anecdotally, our feral specialist vets can estimate the age of the kittens based on the 'condition' of the mother - nothing more accurate than 'under two weeks' or '2-4 weeks', but useful information anyway. Do you have vets with such experience in your area? It's a brutal tradeoff - health of mother versus survival of kittens - but the longer you can afford to keep her for recovery, the better for all of them.

Well, I had to keep her for 24 hours - she was definitely still too drugged last night to let her go. I put her back outside this morning, and a strange thing happened...she wouldn't walk off, but came right back to rub at my legs. I staid outside for a while and she finally headed for a house about one block off and just looked at me inquisitively when she found the door locked. She didn't meow or anything, just calmly laid down on her side. I didn't have the guts to knock at 6am in the morning, and I didn't want to leave her on her own either, so I'm sending my daughter back there later in the morning. My best guess from this behaviour would be that her kittens are probably not tiny (otherwise she'd have headed right home and would have put up resistance to coming back with me?) and are secure inside the house?

Are you sure this is a stray? This almost sounds like she 'belongs' at that house.

My daughter knocked at about 9 am, but no-one answered, so she left a note with our number. When she returned to try again at midday, the note was gone, but till today we never got a call. I tried again in the evening to no avail but talked to some neighbors; no-one knew anything about the person living there except that she works the night shift, nor any kittens. Meanwhile, the cat never tried to leave my house, even with the door wide open...