[lblacki]

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!