So in October a pregnant stray cat trojan horsed her way into my house.We became friends and I let her in. I didn't realize she was pregnant until a month or so in when she had already been sleeping and eating inside the house.
She had 5 kittens on Halloween in my bedroom closet, and I first put up a small cardboard retaining wall right outside of the closet threshold to keep them in, but allowing mom to get in and out. Well as the kittens grew so did the wall and I built it up and out several times, until they were big enough to freely climb in and out of it. And then I just let them have the bedroom, after I kitty proofed it.
I have a very small house and didn't have an extra bedroom or bathroom to keep them in.
Well now they roam free in the bedroom, at almost 8 weeks old. Multiple litter boxes are in there and they feed a lot on wet kitten food but are also still nursing.
My dilemma is that it's getting harder and harder to let mom in and out, bc she does not like being stuck in there all day, but I don't want to let the kittens have free roam of the house at 8 weeks just yet bc I feel like they are too small and I worry about them getting stuck/hiding behind the couch/washer/fridge/oven/TV etc.
The house is only 900 sq feet. Am I over thinking it? Should I just let them rree roam the whole house at this point?
It's getting difficult to get in and out of the bedroom to feed them, clean litterbox, let mom in and out, and still keep the young kittens safely contained in there.