vicious over protective mama cat

[believer]

Our latest foster is a mama cat with 4 kittens. They are 3 1/2 weeks old and were brought into the animal shelter on Friday. If they were told why, we were not. (I am begining to thing she may have been taken there for this kind of violent behavior.)

So, we keep them in the hall bathroom, but they can come out if they please. So far the kittens are too small and wobbly to do more than venture a bit out of the crate. Mama cat is nice to people but not overly friendly. She is a good mama to her kittens.
We have had them since Friday.
She growls at our cats when she sees them.
We also have two dogs. We usually have mama and kittens shut in the bathroom when the dogs are in the house.
Our golden retriever loves cats and thinks they should all be her friend.
She went to the bathroom door to see the new arrivals on Sat.
The mama cat came out and attacked her.
I pulled the dog away from the cat and the mama cat ran across the room to attack her again. The dog would not hurt a flea and she was just suprised and scared by the whole thing.

Today, the mama cat came out and attacked one of our cats.
I realize she is protecting her kittens but our animals are used to having lots of foster kittens and would not hurt them although the mama cat does not know that. And our animals were not threatening her in any way other than being here.
I am not sure what we can do about the situation.
I don't think it is good to keep them shut in the bathroom all of the time.
Soon the kittens will be more mobile and won't want to stay in there anyway.
I think it would be best to keep the mama with the kittens for as long as possible, but we will not be able to keep her for too long if she keeps attacking our other animals.
Our animals have had all of their shots, but we have no idea if the mama cat has had any.
Any suggestions?

[Johns_Gal]

When I bred bengals, my *best* mama cat acted that way to other animals. She raised wonderful, gentle kittens who made excellent pets, and she nursed them all with no problems.

I did keep her locked away from the others until her babies were older and she relaxed. They were just fine in the bathroom, or swapped out; everyone else put away, mama and babies out. Our ferret once got out of her cage when the babies were out, and mama cat thrashed her... same with our sheltie, and our other queen. She didn't mind the kitten's father around them at all, ironically. Strange animals under our house led to her attacking the floor in a rage.

I never, ever handled her when she was in "Protect my babies" mode. She would have torn me up, just in her desperation to neutralize the actual "threat".

It's totally normal. She's been uprooted from her home, shuffled through a shelter, and brought to a place with other cats and dogs she thinks might literally eat her kittens. No, you won't be able to let her and the kittens around your pets, not for several weeks; if she's anything like my girl, she will really hurt your other pets, or keep going after the dog until the dog snaps back and kills her.

:) It's okay. Good, even, she's an awesome mama.