Hello everyone
We live on a farm, and with that said already you can imagine what kind of situation we have here.
A little over a year ago my parents found 3 kittens probably about 5 months old at that time. They seemed like they might have been from the same litter, but they also look very different. They started feeding them and slowly gained their trust but only one liked to be pet (the male).
One we knew was female and she basically got pregnant in her first heat, and she did not trust us enough at the time to take her to the vet.
She ended up having 5 kittens. We really can't afford to have 8 cats (more so emotionally). I will be moving and bringing one kitten with me early next year, and my parents only want to keep the original 3. I adopted out 3 of the kittens and one my mom cannot decide if I should adopt him out yet.
So here we are at 5 cats, but one will be moving out.
Well the third of the original cats we initially thought was a male, until one day he came to the house looking very round. SURPRISE!
She has had the kittens in this insulated cat box right outside the house which was used to first shelter the original 3 when they were young and scared to come inside.
The male and the first mother are very domestic now, they spend all day outside but at night sleep inside the foyer and want to come in more into the house. But this second mother is more shy. She comes into the foyer to eat (we have a cat door) but does not like to be locked in at night.
So now that you have the background story my question is about this:
We have no problem taking care of the kittens and adopting them out, but we do not know the logistics of doing so.
Should we bring the new kittens into the foyer? what about the other cats? what if the mother takes them out after to somewhere less safe? When should we move them if we move them?
I have read we shouldn't handle them until they are 2 weeks old once they open their eyes (they are one week now), but I feel they should be inside where it is safer, but momma cat might not cooperate. I guess we could keep them where they are and just try to socialize them from the box, but I do not want the mom's shyness to force them into hiding under the deck or something where we will be unable to!
The other litter even though she brought them from across the yard, by the time she had the kittens became much more trusting so she would not hide and the kittens therefore would play outside with us.
It is a little bit of a complicated social situation, so any advice would be appreciated!
We live on a farm, and with that said already you can imagine what kind of situation we have here.
A little over a year ago my parents found 3 kittens probably about 5 months old at that time. They seemed like they might have been from the same litter, but they also look very different. They started feeding them and slowly gained their trust but only one liked to be pet (the male).
One we knew was female and she basically got pregnant in her first heat, and she did not trust us enough at the time to take her to the vet.
She ended up having 5 kittens. We really can't afford to have 8 cats (more so emotionally). I will be moving and bringing one kitten with me early next year, and my parents only want to keep the original 3. I adopted out 3 of the kittens and one my mom cannot decide if I should adopt him out yet.
So here we are at 5 cats, but one will be moving out.
Well the third of the original cats we initially thought was a male, until one day he came to the house looking very round. SURPRISE!
She has had the kittens in this insulated cat box right outside the house which was used to first shelter the original 3 when they were young and scared to come inside.
The male and the first mother are very domestic now, they spend all day outside but at night sleep inside the foyer and want to come in more into the house. But this second mother is more shy. She comes into the foyer to eat (we have a cat door) but does not like to be locked in at night.
So now that you have the background story my question is about this:
We have no problem taking care of the kittens and adopting them out, but we do not know the logistics of doing so.
Should we bring the new kittens into the foyer? what about the other cats? what if the mother takes them out after to somewhere less safe? When should we move them if we move them?
I have read we shouldn't handle them until they are 2 weeks old once they open their eyes (they are one week now), but I feel they should be inside where it is safer, but momma cat might not cooperate. I guess we could keep them where they are and just try to socialize them from the box, but I do not want the mom's shyness to force them into hiding under the deck or something where we will be unable to!
The other litter even though she brought them from across the yard, by the time she had the kittens became much more trusting so she would not hide and the kittens therefore would play outside with us.
It is a little bit of a complicated social situation, so any advice would be appreciated!
. You can have her spayed right away, to abort the kittens, if having another litter isn't desirable. 
