Mom recognize her kitten?

Question
We recently had our feral cat colony fixed.  Prior to doing so one of the females had a litter, one of the kittens we kept (others adopted out).  The kitten is indoor only and an absolute  sweetheart. The mom is hanging around more and more, getting much more comfortbale around us and the house and we now are seeing mom and her kitten (4-5 months) looking at each other through the windows.  Our other indoor cats (adults) don't pay any attention to the kitten's mom.  Question is, do they recognize each other as family?  Are there emotions involved ("hey, that's my mom/baby etc."?  is this just basic curiosity going on or something more?  

Answer
LR,

Generally cats are quite territorial and mother cats will lose their maternal instinct towards their kittens if they've been separated for 48+ hours so most professionals (vets, behaviorists) would say that emotions the way that we would feel them aren't a part of feline behavior. I have to admit though that I've seen some pretty strange things over the years so I have to say in some situations I do believe there's a deeper connection between moms and kittens than they're given credit for. It's quite possible that your feral mom (there is a difference between feral and stray, strays are generally abandoned pets while ferals have had little or no contact with people in the crucial early weeks of life and they're generally wild animals who will do anything at all to get away from people, many people forget that feral and stray are not interchangeable terms) has seen the good life her baby has and she just might think she wants a slice of that kitty heaven (your home, good food, warm beds, lots of affection). Who knows, maybe you'll have an extra rescue kitty who will be eternally grateful for the comforts of being a pet? If you have any further questions, concerns or you'd like me to clarify anything in this answer please feel free to contact me again and I will do my absolute best to help you out to the best of my ability.