MECHANISMS OF NEONATE SUCKING BEHAVIOUR IN KITTTEN

Sucking on an artificial nipple was found present at birth, by the age of 20 days it is absent from the kitten''s initial response. Repeated forced feeding experience results in the development of sucking up to 40 days of age, beyond which the kitten learns to chew on the nipple instead of sucking. There are 2 steps in the maturational improvement of the kittens'' ability of learning to suck from the bottle, the 2nd around 30 days of age, is parallel with the 1st emergence of mature EEG pattern and 1st response to solid food. Complete sucking deprivation and individual isolation render the kitten unable to initiate sucking on the mother if the deprivation lasts from birth to the 23rd day of age or more. Similar deprivation in group situation does not interfere with the kitten''s suckling on the mother. Surgical destruction of the olfactory bulbs renders the kitten unable to initiate sucking on the mother, but it does not interfere with the kittens'' ability of learningto suck from a bottle, nor does it interfere with the retention of such preoperative habit. The exercise of neonate reflex activities, mediated by subcortical mechanisms and olfaction, is essential for the development of persistent sucking on the mother.