Foster cat attack
 

We are fostering a mother cat and her two 14-day-old kittens. We have them locked in a back room, and have covered up the windows to the room so our dog and (aggressive) male cat can't see in - we have two doors to shut before we go in there to make sure the other animals can't get in. I screwed up yesterday - I didn't shut the outside door and when I was leaving after taking care of foster mom, our cat had been waiting right outside the door (obviously knew something was going on in there), and he sauntered in as I opened it. The mom went for him like a rocket, and there was a massive cat fight. I tried to separate them and I'm now pretty scratched up. We thought everything was ok, but today we were petting the mom and her kittens, then as we were at the door preparing to leave, she started hissing and lunged at me, attacking my leg. Obviously having a flashback to yesterday when our male sauntered in. We're trying to be very careful and gentle today, but I was wondering if this has ever happened to anyone else, and do you have any advice for calming her down? She does seem very protective of her kittens, and while she'll let us pet them, she gets in-between them and us and seems a little nervous when we're giving them attention. I want to socialize the little guys but should we wait a week or so to pet them to make sure she relaxes? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

Aw geez, that's exactly what I worried about with the mother cat and kittens we had. Ours was a feral Mum cat too, though had obviously been a pet once we got her inside the house.

ARe you ok? Scratches can be bad and cat bites can be very dangerous to you. And your other cat and the mother too, but what about YOU?

What I did was shut all my other cats away in rooms with secure doors. Then I shooshed the Mum cat out of the room holding the kittens so I could handle and social them up. Even though Mum had obviously been a pet I took no chances with her in the first weeks we had her. Maybe you could try this as it is important you handle the kittens as much as you can. This will probably make the mother more suspicious of you but it can't be helped, you need to handle the kittens. No, I don't think you should wait a week. To overcome the mother cat's fear maybe you could just sit in the room and read a book and ignore her? That's what I do with a single feral, to get them used to me. Good luck.

ETA: The room I had the Mum and her babies (4 :) ) in was my laundry/sewing room and we built a sturdy screen door for it so Mum could see me. The door isn't actually screen, it's one inch wire mesh.

Foster Cat Attack
 

Thank you, I appreciate the advice. I think we're pretty safe now, we're all being very careful to shut the outside door before we open the door the fosters are in, so I doubt we'll have another "accident" of our male wandering in (poor guy, he didn't know what hit him!). I am pretty sore - the scratches are a little red and swollen, but everything I looked up on the internet, including cat scratch fever, seems to indicate any discomfort will pass (she obviously had her shots since we got her from the shelter, so no danger of rabies). We'll just try to be very gentle, speak softly and handle the kittens only when she seems ok. Just never know the history of these little fosters...she may have come from a rough place. Thanks again for the advice!