Queen Upset about Losing Her Kittens?

Question
I took in a cat left behind by a previous resident of my home, who turned out to be pregnant. She had five kittens, and they're now eight weeks old.

Three weeks ago I began to notice the kittens were starting to eat their mom's food and also sometimes using her litterbox. So, I set them up with kitten food dishes and a smaller box, and now they have been eating kitten food and using a litter box for a couple weeks. Their nursing had been reduced to little or nothing it seems, and their mom has been giving them a lot of independence. She also stopped sleeping in the box with them.

So, I thought they were ready to be adopted, and what I read online suggested 8 weeks was an appropriate age.

But now that three of her kittens have been adopted out over the last two days, she seems extraordinarily distressed. She's crying very loudly and frequently, and wandering around aimlessly.

I'm wondering: is this normal? Will she recover shortly from the separation from her kittens? I thought she had been acting disinterested in them, but perhaps I was wrong. Did I let them go too early, or without enough of a gradual process?

There are two kittens left and I don't want to let them go if it's too soon.

Answer
hi Joe, It sounds like you have done a perfect job of weaning these kittens and caring for both mom and the babies. I would bet $100 that the mom cat is in heat again !!! So, keep her in until  you can get her spayed. When they come in heat they cry very loudly and wander and try to get outside etc. I don't think her distress has anything to do with the kittens, so you can let the last kittens go to their new homes anytime. Teresa