Kitten Rescue Question

I'm facing the following situation:

I have a neighbor with four unaltered females. Produces LOTS of kittens every year. Finally, yesterday, I talked him into letting me take his females to get them spayed. I took two right away. I also took one kitten (out of about 15), the worst looking of the bunch, to get it checked. I knew he had fleas, worms, bad earmites & suspected a URI. All of the above are true, plus coccidia.

I know he won't treat them, even if I buy the medication. I don't have the time to treat his kittens twice a day, as I'm already fostering 5 indoor + 8 outdoor strays. Through some networking, the local shelter agreed to take all the kittens, quarantine them until healthy (I'm paying for the treatment) and then find them homes.

Now my question. The youngest kittens are about 7 weeks old right now. I usually don't place kittens before they're 10 weeks, but in this case, I'm considering removing all of them in order to get them proper medical care. What's more important now - longer socialization or medical care?

don't place kittens before they're 10 weeks, but in this case, I'm considering removing all of them in order to get them proper medical care. What's more important now - longer socialization or medical care?

I'd say medical care. There's always the option of completing their feline socialization in the company of other cats (assuming they won't be isolated.)

I removed all the kittens he let me take - 14 in total. He kept three. One rather feral kitten passed away the first night at the shelter. All others are doing well and will be put up for adoption as soon as they get out of quarantine. He's agreed to treat the rest of his animals - seems like he got a wake-up call when I told him that one kitten had died and two others were critical.

Three of his four females are now spayed (two were already pregnant again), the last one has an appointment for next week. I hope he doesn't pick up any more strays...