seperated runt

Hi, my housemates and I adopted a stray kitten, around 6-8 months, who then turned out to be pregnant. We were a bit worried cos of her age but she had her litter of four kittens 2 weeks ago and they all seem to be doing fine apart from one of them that I'm a bit concerned about. He's smaller than the others and gets pushed around a bit when they're feeding. Also he seems to find it hard to find a nipple. The mother's started to seperate this kitten from the rest of them, putting him just outside the nest, where she will go and sit with him. Is this a sign of rejection or is she trying to give him special care? Would it be sensible to start hand feeding him? Thanks, any help or insight is helpful.

Is the baby still gaining weight ?

yep but not as much as the others.

Theres 37g between my smallest baby and the biggest. Socks was losing weight on and off through out the first few weeks and now although he is lighter than the others he is still gaining about 13-15g a day. I read on one of the kitten sites they should gain around 12.5g (half oz) a day.

it sounds to me like she is trying to give the baby more attention by sitting with it. If she was leaving the baby outside the box and ignoring it then i would think she was rejecting it. i don't know much about the right times to intervine and supplement feeding only what ive read on other posts. hopefully some one experienced will be able to advise you.

In my experience when the mother was rejecting a kitten she would pick him up and put him in a cornor far from the other kittens, sometimes even in another room. i have 2 runts now, one that i had to hand feed, his mother rejected him fully by putting him in the closet of the back room of the house. the other was not rejected at all but there were 15 kittens in her liter ( i feel very sorry for her owner, and her lol) but he was so under weight and under developed 2 months into his life that it took the vet 15 mins to sex him.... lol