top up feeding

is it a good idea to top up feed kittens with milk replacer?
i have one kitten who is a bit smaller than the rest and sometimes he is pushed off the nipples by his siblings. obviously i dont want him to weaken. he is doing well and does feed. what do you think?

I would try supplementing him. I think that sometimes, like you said, the littler one gets pushed off a bit too much, then they don't have the strength to keep fighting.

Although in general, the runt of the litter is very scrappy, and does just fine, since kittens are so fragile, I would err on the side of caution and give some KMR twice a day until the kitten catches up with the others.

I had one who I bottlefed twice daily from about 4 weeks on...he just seemed to be smaller to start with, and kept falling behind. Then there is one from this litter who didn't gain for a few days, so I supplemented him once with a syringe, and he has been fine ever since.

I think it would be good to because the smallest usually get to weak to suckle.