mr neighbours cat has moved in

Question
over 12 months ago my neighbours had a house fire and had to leave the property for a number of weeks.  this was followed by illness in the family during which time there was no one there all the time to give this 2 year old un spayed female any real attention and tlc. whilst this was happening the cat had 5 kittens outside which became semi-wild. during all this i (and one or two other neighbours less so)kept an eye on her and gave her a meal.  I have a neutered male who doesn't take too kindly to playing second fiddle so no way was i trying to "steal" someone elses pet. one day she brought the kittens over to me and of course I started to feed them and eventually with the help of a friend with rspca connections the kittens were socialised and homes found for 3 while the others were found places on a local farm.  before this happened the mother cat became pregnant again and had 5 more kittens - 4 were homed and one kept by the owner (the mother has now been spayed). problem is that the mum cat seems to have turned her back on her owner and won't go into the house (she is currently making her bed in some cardboard boxes in my back yard and the kept kitten has now followed her!
I am keeping an eye on them and have provided some bedding and food because I feel she might live rough or go off altogether otherwise.
Do you have any suggestions what can be done to re-unite mother and kitten with owner?

Answer
Hi
in my opinion the cat has decided that she has a better home with you than with her other owners (cats are smart). I would speak to her owners and see what they say about the situation, they may not be too worried that the cat has moved away. If they do want to keep the cat the only answer is to stop feeding the cat all togeather and as long as her owners continue to provide her with food she will decide that there is better than at yours.
These situations can be tricky as no one wants to feel that they have enticed a cat away, all you have done is to lokk out for her in bad times.

Kate