Need advice about baby kittens.

I have recently rescue a mother cat (she has had her shots) who was pregnant. She gave birth almost 2 and 1/2 weeks ago. There are 7 kittens. Everything has been good. She is taking proper care of them and feeding them. They are set up in my room. The kittens are in a cardboard box in a secluded section so no other animal can bother them and they can not wander. Mother cat can get in and out the box with no problems. Today I walked in and there was a kitten on the floor between the box and my bed. I am guessing she move him there because there is no way he could have gotten out at all. So I picked him up and looked him over to make sure he was ok. One of his eyes was shut and as I looked more I noticed that on just that on eye there was some crusties. I cleaned them off and returned him to the box while Mama was feeding and she seemed not to mind. She let him feed. Should I be worried? His eye is open now but it still seems a little uneasy. What could be going on?

I also have another question about another kitten in this litter, The runt seems to be really boney considering the others and also not growing as big or fast as the others. Should I feed her milk replacement? If I do will the mother reject her?

Thank you in advance.

The Crusty stuff might just be moisture from the eye while the cat was sleep and it dried up , I had a kitten once who had the same thing ! I thought she had some kind of weird kitten germ ! I took her to my vet and told me not to worry ! If his eyes start to secrete moisture similar to tears then take him in ! He could have a infection as for the runt of the litter give her time some kittens don't develop as fast as the others ! Give her a week more and if she doesn't seem to bulk up. Take her to your vet and request to start kitty formula to help get built !

My runt kept having white puss coming out of his one eye.  It was an infection and I was prescribed antibiotics for him.  They also had to open his eye to get the rest of the puss out.  If your runt's eye keeps crusting over, keep a close watch that it's not an infection, especially if it has that infection smell.

From what I've read, moms don't reject kittens if humans intervene.  It should be ok to supplement the runt.  Just be careful about aspiration. I lost my runt to that.  Hopefully the mom didn't reject the one w/ the crusty eye by kicking him out...again, just keep an eye on things.

If there are seven kittens and the runt is noticeably smaller, I would definitely start supplementing. I'm sure you've heard of nipple guarding and that may be going on by the biggest and strongest kittens. He may just be getting kicked out and not really have a nipple of his own so is getting enough to say, survive but not enough to thrive and grow as he should. I would probably start by giving him two feedings a day but also checking in their often and encouraging him to latch onto mom. I personally use Breeder's Edge milk replacement because it has added probiotics but KMR is my second choice and can be bought at most stores (unless things have changed when I used to use KMR, the petsmart "GNC" Milk replacement formula brand had the exact same ingredients and percentages and many of my bottle babies were raised on that and thrived. ) If he is acting weak, any signs that he definitely is getting a lot less than he should I would feed him 3-4 times a day.

You should start weighing them daily to be sure this kitten especially is gaining appropriately and if not, you can start increasing the number of times a day you intervene and feed if needed. As the previous poster stated, be SURE not to aspirate this kitten- I see it happen all too often. It is safest as far as aspiration goes to use a 1-3 CC syringe and only let a drop or two out at a time. Make sure the babies mouth is not so full of milk it is coming out of the sides- he should be swallowing at the same speed that you are depressing the plunger. If he is hungry and biting on the syringe and swallowing well then you can depress the plunger a little quicker. He may be stubborn at first or he may end up being really hungry and start biting the plunger. Either way keep track of how much he is eating and how much weight he is gaining.

You can also use a bottle or dropper but these are the two tools that I see people aspirate kittens with the most. If you need further directions on bottle feeding or syringe feeding please let me know and I can walk you through it step by step. Always make sure you feed the kitten on it's stomach. I will use a receiving blanket or small hand towel and wrap the baby up in a little burrito and have them as close to the natural nursing position as possible. 

As far as the kitten with the runny eye, just watch out for any puss or excessive moisture as it could be turning into an infection in which case you would need to get eye drops from the vet. If you notice crustiness you can take a damp warm wash cloth and blot the eye. If there is crustiness IN the eye or "eye boogers" I use a syringe and flush it with Artificial tears after putting the syringe in a warm water bath so the cold Artificial tears don't sting the eye. He may just have gotten something in it that irritated it a little or have just had the regular crusty eye boogers from sleeping.