Pregnant cat questions

I am going to be taking in a foster cat who is pregnant and was too far along to have spayed. While I have fostered kittens and momma cats before, I always got them after they were already born. I'm wondering how I should keep the mother cat isolated, being that she is pregnant and I don't want to make her uncomfortable. Would keeping her in a big dog crate be alright, or should she really have an entire room to herself?

Also, Is there anything I should be aware of specifically before the actual birth? I have been doing some research online, but i'm not sure if there is anything in particular I should watch out for or that I should provide for the mother.

Oh, and is wet (kitten) food preferred to dry food for the mother while she is pregnant/nursing, or is either fine? The mother cat is feral, but she's supposedly fairly friendly, so i'm not too worried about that. However, her going through the stress of being moved from her outdoor home to my indoor foster home makes me nervous.

Thank you in advance for any advice!

Leeta, who I had last came in days before she was due. We gave her a room to herself and kept the activity to a minimum so that she could relax and trust us enough to have her babies. I feed both wet and dry kitten food to mom's so that they can consume as much as they need.. pregnancy takes a lot out of a mommy cat as does nursing so always having food available is important. As the mommy cat is near due.. have they done an xray to know how many kittens? That way if you aren't sure she is done labour, you'll know by the number of kittens. Leeta had her babies about 2 an hour for a total of 6 kittens. She was young so she did not really get the idea of cleaning them, etc.. so I would take a clean towel and lightly rub the babies dry then put them up to her for her to clean them as well. As long as the mommy cat has her babies come out easily then just monitor every hour to see how things are progressing. If one presents breach then make sure you have someone available to help mommy cat out.

The mother cat is feral, but she's supposedly fairly friendly

If she's friendly and can be easily touched, then she's not feral - just maybe frightened or shy.

I would put her in a small room without a lot of inaccessible hiding places and set up a birthing box for her in a closet if possible. Leave a radio playing softly to help disguise disturbing noises.

When you first get her, put her in the room with food, litter, etc and just give her peace and quiet. Go in and sit with her a bit, talk softly, pet her and help her calm down and learn to trust you. This is very important.

She will need lots of nourishing food. Since she was stray she is probably undernourished and may have a hard time feeding all her kittens, so make sure she has food available at all times. I would leave the dry out, and feed her canned several times a day, but don't make the portions too big or she may gorge and get diarrhea. I would include canned kitten food, since it has many calories and other nutrients she needs.

She should have her kittens without trouble, hopefully, depending on her age. Just make sure she isn't laboring too long between kittens or you will have to rush her to the vet.

good luck!