Mothers and weaning

Question
We have a mother that brought her three kittens to our door. We put them all together in a room and kept them that way for about a week. The kittens started right away eating wet food and using the litterbox. We seperated mother and kittens, moving kittens into another room. We let the mother into the room with kittens at various times and the kittens never suckled. We then seperated the mother again from her kittens and did not feed her for the 24 hour period. My question is when can the mother and kittens be reunited without the mother producing milk again that the kittens will never drink. We want to keep the mother as an indoor cat and one of the kittens, while the other two will go to my mother-in-law. What is the best way to do this? Also there are five other cats in the home to introduce the mother and kitten(s) to

Answer
I am not sure why you are doing what you are doing. If you leave the kittens with the mom and they never suckle, she will stop producing milk. But on the chance they may suckle, they should be with her. But it is the experience of her kittens stopping nursing that will eventually stop her milk from coming so they have to be kept together. You can still interact with them all so they know humans and bond to you. As for intoducing them to the other cats, this will need time. I would introduce them by keeping mom and kittens in one room with a screen separating them from the other cats but so they can see each other through the screen. They will start to adapt this way and it will also keep the kittens safe while they are small. Cats can play rough and even when you start to let all the cats interact without spearation, you should always supervise and you shoul not leave the kittens alone with other adult cats if you cannot supervise them until they are big enough to defend themselves - several months old at least depending on how well they are all getting along by that time.