OK chaps, what an afternoon.
Mum hasn't come back. She has been gone since 12. I checked on the kits and one is very poorly with a mangled back left leg - I'm not sure if Mum hasn't had a bite as theres a yucky area in the foot. The rest of the leg looks deformed so I guess a birth deformity. The other kitten was filthier than the first (poorly) one - poo all over it, right up to its head.
Quite unreal.
Lovely chaps at CP gave me great advice and I've taken them in here, bathed the foul mess off and fed them with the bottle from their original rejected kit. The foot has been cleaned in (cooled) boiled salted water and some TCP and a visit to the vets tomorrow is booked.
CP are keen for me to carry on - and I'm happy to, feel like I've invested so much in the little family now - and advise as long as no infection, main priority is to keep them feeding.
Have set up weight charts for them all and wee/poo charts.
Good job I'm a SAHM!!