Inheritance of the catnip response in domestic cats

This early genetic study examined the familiar but variable reaction of cats to catnip and proposed that responsiveness is an inherited trait. By observing the catnip response across cats and considering family patterns, the work concluded that the behavior segregates in a way consistent with genetic control, with a substantial fraction of cats reacting and others showing no response. The study helped establish that indifference to catnip is not a failure of the individual but a heritable difference, and it noted that very young kittens typically do not display the response. This foundational work framed the catnip reaction as a model of a simple inherited behavioral trait in cats and set the stage for decades of subsequent interest in the response, its prevalence, its developmental onset, and ultimately the chemistry and adaptive function of the plant compounds that trigger it.