Need to Wean Kitten

samosetsal

I have an odd problem that didn't seem that it would be that hard until I really thought it through. the situation is this: we (husband, son, and I) recently took on two cats from a rescue group that our former cat sitter is a member of (we had a cat who died, sad story for another post)--one is a young mother cat and the other is one of her kittens. They were found in Prospect Park. The kitten was the only survivor of a litter; the other 3 were found dead. Anyway the problem is that the cat isn't spayed and I very much want to get her spayed before she goes into heat. But she's still nursing the kitten. And he's not much of a kitten any more. He is getting bigger every day and that is not an exageration. The vet said that she must be not lactating at all when she gets the operation, otherwise there is a high risk of infection. The thing is, we live in a small railroad apartment and it is really difficult to have one cat box let alone two. I don't much want to separate them anyway because we're all gone all day and it just seems they would be distressed at being separated and at any rate impossible what with 3 humans going in and out of rooms to keep them totally apart. He doesn't nurse a whole lot but it is enough for her to keep lactating and she mostly lets him. He's getting so big it looks ridiculous and he eats plenty of cat food. Should I send him to be boarded for a while or just wait for kitten-led weaning to happen? It doesn't seem like it's ever going to. It's been 3 weeks now and he's around 11 weeks old, I believe, though of course can't be exact because they were rescued. Anyway she's very skinny having been starving and I want her to gain weight and I know that the lactating is burning even more calories.