Kittens in my garage!!

Question
Hello Teresa.  I have quite the odd question for you today.  There is a cat that hangs around my house, it has collars, but no I.D.  Anyway, it seems as though this cat decided to choose a back corner of my garage to welcome a litter of kittens into this world.  So I have tried to gain the mother's trust over the past couple days, feeding it water, etc.  It has allowed me to pet her when I kneel down.  However, when I make a move towards my garage, she gets very  antsy.  I do not want to push the limits just yet because it has only been two days, and I have not even seen the litter yet.  What is the best advice?  I am not at all familiar with cats.  Please help.  Thank You.

Chris, NJ

Answer
Hi Chris, Congratulations.. lol
Well you are best just to leave her. If she is owned by someone, which we will assume since she has a collar, then she will start going back and forth home for food which is better than getting food from you. cats are not that loyal and if you start feeding her you will have 6 or 7 new cats as she will have no reason to return home. For the first couple of days they do not eat much anyways as they are staying very close to their babies.
I would suggest  you place a free ad in your local paper describing her the best you can, so that her owner can help locate her and her babies. Quite often just as a cat is ready to deliver they will leave home and find a different place to have their kittens because they do not feel safe at home if there is another cat or a dog etc.  In your garage their kittens are not in danger from any "threat" perceived or otherwise. Usually when the kittens are about 3 weeks old the mom will move the kittens closer to home... but in the meantime there may be someone quite worried about her. If you really can't locate anyone and she starts crying at your door for food.. then you will have to cross that bridge at that time.
Teresa