How to Teach Your Cat to High Five

To teach your cat to high five, offer an open palm within easy reach and reward a voluntary paw touch. If that is too much to start with, reward a small paw lift, then movement toward your hand, then contact. Add the words “high five” once the touch is becoming predictable, and stop whenever your cat chooses to leave or the interaction becomes uncomfortable.

The aim is a gentle, brief touch. You do not need to lift your cat’s paw, hold it in place, or persuade them to stretch upward for a more impressive pose.

What This Game Teaches

A high five gives you one small behavior to build together: your cat brings a paw to your palm, receives a reward, and is free to move away. Your cat does not need to know a “sit” cue first, and a first successful touch does not mean the trick is ready to perform anywhere or for anyone.

The sequence below adapts the Cat Pawsitive high-five guide, with smaller paw-movement steps drawn from Humane Colorado’s high-five instructions. The reachable hand placement and troubleshooting suggestions are practical adaptations, rather than a single tested protocol or a promise that every cat will enjoy the activity.

Keep this separate from paw handling. Offering a high five does not mean your cat is comfortable having a paw held, examined, or prepared for nail trimming.

Prepare a Comfortable Starting Point

Choose a quiet, familiar place where your cat is awake, moving comfortably, and interested in interacting. Settle yourself nearby rather than leaning over them. A stable, nonslip floor-level surface and an unobstructed way out make a sensible starting setup for this game.

Do not wake, corner, or hold your cat in position to begin. If they move away, let the invitation end. When another cat keeps approaching the rewards, arrange comfortable individual practice; our guide to training cats separately covers that setup.

Have these ready:

• A reward your cat actually values and can receive comfortably
• An empty hand to serve as the palm target
• A familiar clicker or short marker word, if you already use one

A marker is a learned signal that identifies the action earning the reward. It can help with timing, but it is optional: the Feline Veterinary Medical Association’s training toolkit also describes direct reinforcement without one. If you want to introduce a clicker, use our separate clicker-training guide first rather than making an unfamiliar sound part of the paw-touch lesson.

Keep Rewards Within the Feeding Plan

Food is convenient when you can deliver it promptly, but it is not the only possible reward. A brief play opportunity or interaction your cat seeks and enjoys may be useful too. Petting is not a reward if your cat would rather avoid it.

If using food, prepare small, suitable portions and account for them within the day’s feeding plan. The WSAVA guide to feeding treats advises preserving a complete diet and seeking individualized advice about treat type and quantity. Check with your veterinary team before adding or substituting rewards when medical conditions, food sensitivities, or a prescribed diet affect what your cat can eat.

Our guide to using training treats without overfeeding explains the practical accounting. Normal meals should remain available according to your cat’s feeding routine, whether they participate in training or not.

Build the Paw-to-Palm Touch

1. Offer a Reachable Open Palm

Hold your empty hand still, with the palm facing your cat and your fingers comfortably together. Place it close enough that a small, easy paw movement could reach it. Adjust to the cat in front of you; do not hold it so high or far away that they must rear up, jump, or lean precariously.

Give your cat a quiet opportunity to respond. If a paw touches your palm, mark that contact if you are using a familiar marker, then promptly give the reward. Let the paw come away freely.

Keep food separate from the target hand in this version of the game. You are rewarding a paw movement toward the palm, not asking your cat to pry food from a closed fist. Do not tap the paw, scoop it up, or move your hand into it to manufacture a touch.

2. Reward a Smaller Movement if Needed

If your cat does not immediately touch the hand, a complete high five may be too large a first step. Humane Colorado’s guide starts by rewarding a lifted foreleg, then movement toward the hand, then contact. This is an example of shaping: reinforcing manageable parts of a behavior before asking for the whole action.

Watch for a voluntary paw lift while your cat remains comfortable. Reward that small movement. As lifting becomes easy to recognize and occurs readily, begin rewarding a lift that moves toward your nearby palm. Move on to contact when that is comfortably achievable.

For example, a cat may first raise a paw slightly and put it straight down. That can be a useful starting response. You do not need to hold the paw up or move the target underneath it. On a later attempt, a little movement toward the palm can become the next useful step.

If increasing the requirement produces repeated unsuccessful attempts, return to the easier movement your cat was offering, make the palm easier to reach, or finish for now. These are practical ways to apply the shaping principle; there is no required number of repetitions before progressing. If no paw movement appears, do not keep the hand in your cat’s space indefinitely.

3. Reward Contact and Reset

Once your cat is reaching your palm, make the finishing point clear: a gentle touch earns the reward. You are not asking for pressure, a prolonged hold, or repeated batting.

If using a marker, give it as the paw touches, then deliver the reward promptly. Without a marker, follow the touch promptly with the chosen reward. Preparing the reward beforehand helps you avoid rummaging for it after the useful moment has passed.

Lower the target hand between attempts and let your cat finish the reward. Offer the palm again only while they remain willing. This simple reset follows Cat Pawsitive’s sequence and gives each attempt a beginning and an end.

If contact becomes scratchy, forceful, or involves teeth, stop presenting your hand and give your cat space. Do not keep offering your skin to wait for a gentler response, punish the cat, or turn the touch into a grip.

Add the “High Five” Cue

Wait until your cat is touching the offered palm predictably in the familiar setup. Then say “high five” as you present the hand, as described in Cat Pawsitive’s guide, and reward the resulting touch.

Keep the hand placement and reward arrangement familiar while introducing the words. The cue invites the behavior; a click or marker word, if used, identifies the successful action afterward. Avoid using the same word for both jobs.

If your cat does not respond, lower your hand and pause instead of repeating “high five” over and over. Return to the easy palm-touch game before trying the cue again. A missed response is not a reason to take the paw or withhold an ordinary meal.

The palm can remain part of the cue. This tutorial’s endpoint is a comfortable paw touch when you offer the hand and invitation, not a promise of a verbal-only trick.

Later, you can try an easy version in another quiet, familiar spot. Treat that as a small new challenge: retain the reachable palm and prompt reward, and return to the original setup if the response becomes hesitant. This is a practical extension of gradual learning, not a source-established test your cat must pass.

If the Game Is Not Going Smoothly

Your Cat Only Sniffs or Licks Your Hand

That tells you what happened, not why. Sniffing or licking is different from the paw movement you are trying to teach. Keep the target hand empty, check that it is easy to reach, and watch for a smaller voluntary paw lift rather than waiting only for a complete touch. If that does not appear, put the hand down and try another time or choose a different activity.

Your Cat Touches Once but Not Again

One touch is a starting point. Check what changed: did the palm move higher, did reward delivery become slower, or did an interruption occur? Return to the simpler setup rather than making the next attempt harder. Your cat may also be finished; there is no need to obtain one final success before letting them leave.

The Touch Becomes Rough

End hand presentations when there is scratching, forceful swatting, or biting. Do not diagnose frustration, pain, or “bad behavior” from that response alone. At a later calm opportunity, an easier no-contact paw-lift step may be a better starting point. If safe, comfortable participation remains difficult, leave this optional trick aside and seek appropriate professional advice rather than repeating the same uncomfortable encounter.

Your Cat Leaves or Seems Uncomfortable

Stop if your cat walks away, hides, hisses, growls, or becomes tense and avoidant. Do not follow them with the hand or block their retreat. The RSPCA’s cat-care guidance recommends brief reward-based training and respecting a cat’s choice to leave an interaction.

Pause the trick and contact your veterinarian if you notice limping, stiffness, a concerning new reluctance to lift a paw, or another change in normal movement. International Cat Care’s mobility guidance highlights movement and habit changes that deserve investigation. An unsuccessful high five by itself does not diagnose a medical problem.

A useful session can end after a small piece of progress, or simply because your cat would prefer something else. The skill stays worthwhile only while participation remains comfortable and voluntary.

Helpful Related Guides

• How to Clicker Train Your Cat
• How to Use Treats for Cat Training Without Overfeeding
• How to Train Cats Separately in a Multi-Cat Home
• How to Teach Your Cat to Sit

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