Kitten Litter

Question
Hello- we had a calico cat hanging around in our back yard one day and of course my boyfriend fed her some milk and she has never left.  Well to make a long story short, she kind of grew on us (we would let her in the house when we were there but that was it) so technically we are feeding her, but she is not ours.  Well, we really are not cat people, so we are not sure of a lot of things.  She had some other cats hanging around and then we realized she had gotten pregnant-something we are not experienced or ready for.  Well she had her little litter last night, there are 5 of them.  She purrs and meows when we coo at her and she always purrs when we rub her.... I read an article saying that we should help her take care of them and hold them, etc. but I thought that we were not allowed to touch them.
Please help, we do not know how to care for her or her 5 kittens.....

Answer
Hi Krista,

Here's a couple of good links that will explain a lot to you.

http://www.doctordog.com/drdognewsletter/kittens.html

http://cats.suite101.com/article.cfm/kitten_stages_of_development

I wouldn't handle the kits yet. If you handle them right now she might get a little upset and move them. You can see how she reacts to you by the kittens. If she doesn't seem upset then I would say you can start handling them at around two weeks. Just make sure the mom is taking care of her kits. Make sure she is nursing them and cleaning them. If she isn't then write back and I'll explain what you need to do. Good luck.

Ciao, Karen