Yes, cats learn paw tricks — on feline terms
A high-five suits cats well because it builds on behaviour they already offer: reaching a paw toward something interesting. The difference between a cat who learns it in a week and one who leaves is rarely talent; it is session design. Cats work for excellent pay, in brief bursts, with the freedom to walk away. If your cat enjoys food rewards, likes being near you, and already paws at toys or taps your hand for attention, she is an ideal candidate. What never works is manhandling — lifting or pressing the paw yourself teaches your cat that training involves being grabbed, and she will simply stop attending.
Stage one: pay for any paw that moves
Sit at your cat's level in a quiet place, hold a tiny high-value treat in a closed hand at paw height, and wait. Most cats sniff, then tap or pat the hand to investigate. The instant a paw lifts toward your hand — even a shuffle that suggests intent — mark it with a consistent sound or word and pay with a treat from your other hand, so the closed hand stays the puzzle rather than the dispenser. Repeat only a few times. You are buying curiosity at this stage, not a finished gesture. If your cat stares, sniffs, and wanders off, the reward is not valuable enough or the moment is wrong; try just before a meal with something smellier rather than adding repetitions to a session that has already ended in her mind.
Shaping the lift into a recognisable high-five
Once paw taps come quickly, raise your hand gradually to a low vertical palm, still close and unthreatening, and pay only for touches that land on the palm. Then refine: reward fuller lifts and softer contacts, let half-hearted floor scrapes go unpaid without comment, and keep the pace snappy so your cat connects her action to the outcome. Add your cue — an open palm presented the same way each time, with a word if you like — only when the behaviour is already happening reliably, otherwise the cue becomes background noise attached to confusion. Some cats offer one strong preferred paw; accept it. A one-pawed high-five performed enthusiastically is a finished trick, not a half result needing correction.
Session length, timing and common stalls
Think in minutes, and few of them. Two or three short sessions in a day, each ending after a handful of successes while your cat still wants more, beat one long drilling session by a wide margin. Stop immediately if ears flatten, the tail starts lashing, or your cat turns her head away repeatedly — those are polite feline full stops. If progress stalls, you have almost certainly raised the difficulty too fast: drop back to the last step she performed confidently and rebuild in smaller increments. Train away from dogs, children, and rival cats, because an audience that might steal treats or pounce turns a thinking game into a vigilance task, and a cat on guard does not experiment with new movements.
Keeping everyone practising the same stage
Trick training unravels when one person pays for any paw wave, another waits for perfect contact, and a third lures with a treat waved in the air, because your cat receives three different rulebooks for one gesture. Write down the current stage, the cue, and the reward in one shared place and advance only when the behaviour is solid for everyone. Noting that stage in KinsLe Care Teams lets each household member see the assigned practice step, mark sessions complete, and keep your cat's high-five training consistent instead of accidentally reteaching it differently each evening.