Five impressive tricks you need to teach your cat!

• Kitty Bingo has revealed five fun tricks to teach your cat
• Search trends for ‘tricks to teach your cats’ have increased by 125%
• From teaching them to “roll over” to showing your cat how to jump through a hoop, these tricks are guaranteed to impress an audience

With the annual event Crufts taking place from the 9th to the 12th of March, many pet lovers across the UK will be admiring the talented tricks of the performing pooches. But what about our feline friends?!

Over the past 12 months, searches* for ‘tricks to teach your cats’ (+125%) and ‘easy cat tricks’ (+86%) have increased significantly.

For cat owners looking to improve their pets’ skills, Kitty Bingo has revealed five tricks that are guaranteed to impress your family and friends. However, it’s important to remember to be patient; teaching your pet tricks can take time so don’t put too much pressure on your cat when practising.

Teach them to sit.

You may be under the impression that only dogs can be taught to sit, however, that isn’t true, cats can perform this trick too.

• Grab your cat’s favourite treat and hold it in front of their face
• Once you’ve got your cat’s attention, raise the treat above their head and back slightly; this should urge your cat to lift their head
• Keep the treat close to your cat’s nose and continue to move your hand back, this should result in your cat sitting down
• Once they are sat, use the “sit” command
• Reward your cat immediately and practice regularly to perfect the command

High Five!

Teaching your cat high five is both an adorable and exciting trick to have under your sleeve.

• Face your cat in front of you
• Hold their favourite type of treat in front of them, in line with their shoulder
• Wait until your cat goes to touch the treat in your hand with their paw, once they do, use the “high five” command
• Continue to do this multiple times until your cat has mastered how to high five

Teach your cat how to spin.

This command is simple yet extremely cute once perfected! It can take some time for the cat to associate the action with the command, so be patient when practising.

• Grab a tasty treat to get your cat’s attention
• Circle the treat around your cat’s head, slow enough for them to follow the treat
• Once the cat has performed a full spin, reward them with the treat and use the “spin” command
• Keep repeating this routine with treats until your cat has perfected the command

Jump through the hoop.

If you’re looking to wow your guests with an adorable trick – teach your feline companion to jump through a hoop.

• Hold up the hoop on the floor, facing your cat
• Guide your cat through the hoop slowly, and use a treat to lure them forward
• Once your cat has walked through the hoop, reward them with the treat and use the command “hoop”
• As your cat becomes more confident walking through the hoop, slowly raise it higher until it’s the hoop is at a jumping level

Roll over!

The final trick you should train your cat to do is “roll over”. This is a fun trick to do with your cat and is guaranteed to impress an audience.

• First, train your cat to lie down
• Once they have completed lie down, hold a treat to your cat’s nose
• Slowly move the treat so that your cat tilts its head
• Move the treat slowly so that the cat rolls onto its side
• Once your cat is on its side, reward it with a treat and use the command “rollover”
• Keep repeating this trick until your cat automatically lies down on its side
• The final step is to arc your hand to encourage your cat to roll all the way over, reward with lots of treats and praise