Fostering a stray who had kittens. Enclosed her and kittens on my porch. Did I do the right thing?

A stray cat that I have befriended recently had kittens. I set up a box for her and after about three weeks her kittens were born. The box is on my back porch, and when I went to check on her today I saw a raccoon on the porch eating her food. I scared it away, but it made me worried that it could have known the cat and kittens were there too and I did not want it to come back again. Pretty much I took a heavy duty tarp and enclosed my backporch. While I was doing this she was in the box, and I kept the box closed so she would not get scared and run away. When I finished I opened the box, and she was very anxious, meowing, looking for ways to escape. After a while she seemed to calm down a bit. I gave her a little turkey which she took, and she is now back in the box sleeping with her kittens. I should also mention that before this, for weeks she would allow me to pet her, she would roll over for me, and purr a lot. I believe she must have had human contact before and was either abandoned or escaped from her previous owner (she is a black cat). She did not try to bite me or hiss or anything, just seemed scared and meowed a lot. I just want to make sure that she will not stop nursing her kittens. Should I assume if tommorrow she is eating normally and goes into the box that she is adjusting and will continue to be there for the kittens? 

  Thanks

I would bring her indoors and maybe put her in a closet or a dark room someplace if you have that?  A bathroom you don't use would work....Do you have an extra bathroom?  The thing is, an experienced mother that is nervous will move the kittens where other animals cannot get to them.  She doesn't want them "in the open" like they are right now....Where another animal can discover and hurt them. 

An less experienced mother may abandon her kittens altogether if she feels threatened.  So, do you have any place you can put her where she would feel better?  Preferrably indoors.  That way she can keep the kittens safe and you don't have to worry about her moving them and you not knowing what happened to them.  Socializing kittens young is important if you want them to be able to be adoptable.  Otherwise, if she moves them and they grow up without human interaction, they will be feral. 

Bless you for helping out this poor mom in her time of need. 

I would love to bring her inside, however my mother does not want me to, and I kind of don't blame her. We have two 9 year old persian cats and even though the likelihood of them contracting something is small if they are isolated and in a separate room, she does not want to risk it. The stray cat has been sleeping in the box I made for her on my backporch for about a month, and that is where she gave birth to the kittens. I believe she feels safe there or she would not have chose to give birth there. She is eating I am sure better then she ever ate before. I guess I will just have to watch extra careful the next few days to see if the kittens are doing alright. If they are hopefully in 8 or 9 weeks I will be able to find a no kill shelter and bring them in. This is just kinda a horrible time for this to happen. My mother is going to florida tommorrow for at least two weeks to deal with some family problems, I am studying for my MCAT that I take in three weeks. I would love to just bring the mother cat to the vet to see if she has any serious diseases, I just don't think I will be able to do that. I feel bad for the mother cat because since she is an outdoor cat, now that I put up the tarp, she can't see the world, and I don't want her to feel like she is in prison. I guess it shouldn't be too bad since she does not have to look for food, she will just spend most of her time sleeping with and nursing the kittens. Part of me wishes I didn't have a fondness for this cat and did not see it come around. The other part of me is glad I did this. =(

Mces97 said:

. I feel bad for the mother cat because since she is an outdoor cat, now that I put up the tarp, she can't see the world, and I don't want her to feel like she is in prison. I guess it shouldn't be too bad since she does not have to look for food, she will just spend most of her time sleeping with and nursing the kittens.

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Cat moms are like human moms. The most important for them is the welfare of her children.  Beautiful panoramas are a third grade concern.      That is why it usually works just fine to take in even real, semiferale/ferale moms, not only dumped moms.

If she feels they are safe there, she will be happy with the situation. If she isnt feeling safe - she will plan on leaving with them.

I understand the plan with this tarp is nobody from outside can come in.  If so - swell!   And the whole set up should work.  But if somebody a predator CAN come in, it may become a trap.

If the mom can get out, so others can get in.

That said, I dont know raccoons. I dont know if they do usually hunt for kittens of outside cats.  I suspect they do.  Although mom if not sick, can defend vigorously.

A little update for everyone. So far it seems Midnight has taken to the enclosure. She is nursing her kittens and I gave her a can of wet food this morning, and a little bit more a few minutes ago. I think she was just a little in shock after going in the box, then coming out of it to see everything changed. Hopefully everything continues to go well.