Starting a new thread since my (foster) cat is no longer pregnant. She gave birth to her kittens on Monday. I have been Google-ing too much and decided to come back here instead. Besides, the people on here are more helpful than on "Yahoo! Answers". Anyway, my reason for posting is kitten handling. So Nimby gave birth underneath my bathroom sink (I had cleared it out the night before and put down a blanket). Well a few hours after, I wanted to wash the blanket she gave birth on and give her a clean one. So naturally I had to move the kittens to a temporary spot. Mama freaked out, began meowing in distress and started carrying the kittens back under the sink before I had even replaced the blanket. I know that she feels that they are the most safe in there - it is dark and quiet. Of course at some point I will need to change out the blankets again and move the kittens for a little bit. But I do not want her to get upset. At what age will she let them be away from that spot? They can't stay under the sink forever. Also - I have read different things about handling kittens. Some people say you need to handle them every day (if mama allows) so they will get accustomed to human contact. Some people say you should not even think about touching the kittens until they are a couple weeks old. Well... sometimes Nimby will let me touch them and sometimes she won't. One kitten had something stuck in its fur so I picked it up to get it out. She did not like it and tried to grab him back from me (I then put him back lol). At what age will she willingly let me handle the kittens? Maybe it is just how young they are? Because I have fostered a mama cat and kittens before and I do not remember that one being so protective (I took them in when the kittens were 3 weeks old). Just trying to be a good foster mom lol.