Stray cat

Hello. I am new to this forum, but wanted to make sure I did the right thing.
We live in the country. We have several cats running around that are not ours, but belong to neighbors. With only 3 people on our street we all know who has what animals.
Well, a couple of months ago we began seeing a female orange stray. With it not belonging to anyone my family adopted it and have been feeding it outside. She is a super nice cat. Always comes up to be pet, crawls on our laps while we are outside and purs a lot.
Well, this past week we realized we hadn't seen her in a bit then all of a sudden she comes back and we see she pregnant. We keep an eye on her to make sure she continues to eat.
Well, earlier this evening my husband goes outside and hears her having her babies in the nearby bush next to our porch steps. It is for some reason colder than normal in our area.
I did not want her being cold, nor did I want her babies to be cold. And living in the country I was concerned that other animals may try to eat the newborns.
At the time we found her she had 2 already.
I got a box, placed a nice heavy towel in the bottom and we got her in the box along with the 2 kittens. We brought her in our house and blocked her off in the bathroom.
She has since had 3 more beautiful babies making it 5.

What I am worried about is when we picked up the 2 that she had before we brought her in. She will take care of them....right?
I'm afraid that since my husband picked them up that she will neglect them. I have always been told not to handle newborn kittens until they are about 2 weeks in fear of the mother cat being upset or angry and thus neglecting the ones touched. But, when putting her in the box she did nothing but pur and has continued to pur whenever my husband or myself go to check on her and the babies.
The babies seem to be doing well and latching on, but sometimes when I am in there I see a rogue kitten not with the others and I worry. Do I need to worry?
Am I just being overly concerned?

I want to make sure moving her and the kittens was the right thing. Deep down I fell good about it because I know I'm helping her to protect them from the chill and predators.
But, I am still worried about the first 2 she had.

Thanks for your advice.

Karen Pittman
Kentucky

I don't think she will neglect them. Especially if she is familiar with you and your husband. She probably understands that her kittens will be much safer inside the warm house, away from preditors. The fact that she let you handle her kittens says that she trusts you. I wouldn't worry about her neglecting them. But just make sure they are all eating and gaining weight.

You did absolutely the right thing! Perfect, in fact. Sometimes feral or stray mothers are uncomfortable about being indoors, but it is much safer for them and the kittens. It sounds like she approves of the box as a good nest and knows that your family is looking out for hers! Cats can sometimes get nervous when people handle their babies, but their instinct then is to take the kittens away from you, not leave you with the kitten. Your ginger stray has very definitively claimed you as her new family and trusts you very much by the sound of it, though!

Some mothers are a bit better at it than others, though, or sometimes a kitten will need a little extra help (neither of which would be influenced by you moving them). You can weigh the kittens daily on a kitchen scale in front of the mother so she knows where her babies are at all times. They should each be gaining at least 7-8 grams a day. If they're not getting enough to eat, you can syringe feed them with kitten milk replacer that you can buy in pet stores to supplement what they're getting from their mother. Kitten food is good for the mother to eat right now so she can get lots of nutrients and calories. It's also very important that they stay warm because they can't control their own body heat. Mom normally does a good job of supplying that, but if she likes to take a break or a kitten is getting left out in the cold, you can heat up a sock filled with rice in the microwave and this will stay warm for a few hours.

Be sure to keep her and all the kittens inside until they can all get spayed and neutered in a few months! Thank you for taking care of this cat and her children. They are all very fortunate that they found such caring people.

Actually as long as the mother is not upset, it is best to handle the kittens daily or several times a day, not necessarily picking them up other than to weigh them, but touching them, petting them, and getting them used to the smell of humans.  That makes them much more domesticated from the beginning.  Even week-old feral kittens will hiss at a human hand if they haven't known humans before, even though their eyes are not open and they have no teeth in their mouths.  If they have known humans from birth, they will be happier with being handled than those who were not handled in those first two weeks.

The fact that the mama cat is purring and has always been friendly and affectionate means she is not a true feral but rather a cat who was somebody's pet once but has since been abandoned.  She must be incredibly grateful that you took her in.  I hope you keep her and don't put her out again!

You've gotten good advice.  Mama Cat knows you, and trusts you. 

You probably do not have to worry about your "rogue."  Even in very young litters, there is often one that seems to spend a large amount of time exploring, although what, exactly, they are learning while deaf and blind is something you'll have to ask the kitten.  They do have keen senses of smell from birth on.  As long as you do see the little rogue nursing on a regular basis, I think you're ok.  The time to worry is when Mama Cat pushes a kitten away and refuses to care for it.  Those kittens generally have defects we can't see but she can sense.  They're pragmatic about that...better to sacrifice the doomed one so that the others have a better chance.  But from what you described, that isn't the case here.

I dragged a litter and mama out from under a huge patch of Spanish Bayonet plants in a driving storm, and Mama Cat had no issues.  I really think you are fine.

Oh...and thank you.

 Bravo! Your instincts have served you well - mama kitty and babies are MUCH safer inside. And like the previous posters said, mother cats typically will hide their babies, not abandon them like rabbits and sheep sometimes do. I have even used the babies as "bait" for my cat traps to get mama kitties TNR'd and I have not had a single mama cat reject her little ones, even after I contain the family inside a cabin until the kittens can be tamed and placed and mother cat returned to her colony. If any of the babies needs supplemental feeding, goat milk tends to be better tolerated than the whey based commercial kitten milk replacers - there is an excellent recipe at www.kitten-rescue.com. If I have to use canned goat milk, I dilute it a little more than 50/50 because diarrhea is a real threat to kittens (I also dilute liquid KMR and other commercial preparations for the same reason, and feed more often).

Congratulations on being chosen cat guardians! Cats are very particular on whom to trust and in your case, you have been adopted by a very wise cat