Overwhelmed with Foster Kittens--Help!

I've fostered orphaned kittens before. I had three that I bottlefed, and raised in the tub until they were litter trained and we transferred them to a ginormous cat playpen.

So I thought I had everything covered.

But I now have a nursing queen and her three 3 week old kittens in addition to three 2 week old orphaned kittens that she has accepted as her own.

We set up her litter box and nesting area on the bottom of the cat playpen cage so that the kittens wouldn't fall off any shelves or anything. But now that they're getting bigger, it's becoming a tight squeeze.

I don't want to move her litter box up a shelf, because she will kick it all over the place, and her kittens won't learn how to use it that way. She's also kicking it on her kittens and then getting angry and moving them to the far corner.

I can't leave the litter box where it is, and it's clear that eventually this cage is just not going to be enough room. I can't let them roam free in the house because I have two resident male cats of my own. And although my guest room seems destined to be covered in a thin layer of litter, I worry about the kittens getting into things they shouldn't in there unsupervised. I guess I could move the whole operation to the guest bathroom, but I also worry about the kittens trying to dash out the door every time I open it. They're too little to do this now, but when they get older, I have no idea how I'm going to catch six kittens at one time.

I seriously need some tips on how to set up a nursery for my fosterlings that'll be easy to clean and what should go in it.

I think the guest bedroom sounds like a good idea.

i agree , what about the bathroom? , when going into the room just opem the door slowly and squeeze yourself through the door before they get out, you may get one that will get out but you do get use to it after a while lol.

I kept my foster kittens in the bathroom. The way I handled this was to put a baby gate in the doorway. I put cardboard on the inside of the gate so they couldn't climb it. It was a little inconvenient to have to step over the gate all the time but it kept the kittens in, at least until they were old enough to jump up on top of the gate.

Thanks for all the comments! I came up with a solution that is working for now, but will only last until they're big enough to climb. I got one of those low pet enclosures that they use for dogs. The mommy cat can get in and out, but the kittens can't, so it expands their area:







As you can see they've taken over the entire spare bedroom, but with the top-entrance litterbox, and a flat tray for the food and other stuff, it's keeping it clean and out of my carpet.