Research overview: developmental onset of the catnip response

The familiar reaction to catnip does not appear until a kitten is several months old, making it a developmentally timed sensory behavior. This overview surveys the onset of the catnip response, which is typically absent in young kittens and emerges as the cat matures, usually within the first half-year of life. Before this age, kittens generally show no reaction or even mild avoidance. The survey relates the developmental onset to the heritable basis of the response and to the maturation of the olfactory and reward systems that mediate it. It discusses how responsiveness, once it appears, reflects the cat's genetic predisposition. Understanding the developmental timing of the catnip response connects sensory development to a well-known behavior. It shows that whether and when a cat reacts to catnip depends on both inheritance and maturation, and it cautions against concluding that a young kitten is a non-responder before it has reached the age at which the response normally appears.