Research overview: teat order and early suckling organisation

Kittens often establish a teat order, returning preferentially to particular nipples during nursing, a phenomenon studied as a window into early learning and competition. This overview surveys research on the formation and stability of teat preferences, the sensory cues such as odour that guide kittens to their chosen nipple, and the relationship between teat order, milk intake, and early growth. It discusses how this ordering reflects both competition among littermates and rapid associative learning in the first days of life. The topic illuminates the earliest organisation of behaviour in altricial kittens and the foundations of individual differences in early development.