How to Teach Your Cat to Sit in 5 Simple Steps

I’ll admit it.

I’m a cat lover.

I’m a cat enthusiast.

I’m a cat fanatic.

But most of all, I’m a cat owner.

Let me tell you, very few things in this world are more rewarding than raising a cat.

And that’s coming from someone who has raised several cats over the years from the time that they were just newborn kittens.

I wouldn’t trade my experiences in raising cats for anything the world.

You couldn’t pay me any amount of money in exchange for my experiences in raising cats.

Seriously, I love cats that much!

Raising cats over the years has always been a trial and error process.

When most people think of training their cats they think of things like training their cat to use the litter box, but you can also train your cats to do a lot of other things as well.

Teaching cats tricks is just one of the aspects that are a part of that trial and error process.

More specifically, teaching a cat how to sit has always been a trial and error process.

And that’s what I want to get into today.

So without further ado, let’s get into how to teach your cat to sit.

5 Simple Steps to Teaching Your Cat to Sit

Elevate Your Cat

Start with elevating your cat up on something. This will make it easier to teach them how to sit.

Ideally, a small chair is more than adequate enough to do the job.

Use Food as a Reward

Lure your cat by using a food reward. Cats love food!

Food can be a great motivator. According to Purina, most cats respond to food. When they know that there is food coming, they are much easier to teach then if you were trying to teach them empty-handed.

Use a Verbal “Sit” Command

Say “Sit” while you’re using a food reward to lure your cat.

Cats are generally intelligent creatures. They tend to associate words with experiences.

So by combining the use of the food reward to lure them and saying the word “sit”, they will learn how to sit much faster.

Repeat this process until your cat associates sitting with receiving food as a reward. This can take patience, but it really is that simple!

Place the Food in the Right Place

Move the food reward higher before moving behind your cat’s head. This will cause your cat to look up and inadvertently sit down while it stares at the food reward.

Reinforce this behavior by saying either “yes” or “good”. Remember, cats like to associate words with experience.

So if you use positive words with positive experiences, your cat will remember that.

Touch Your Cat’s Belly

Touch your cat’s belly and use a food reward to get it to sit.

Do this when your cat is somewhat inattentive and isn’t doing what you want it to do. By touching your cat’s belly, you will get it to stand. Then lure it with the food reward by repeating the process described in Step 4.

You may have to do this several times before your cat sits, but it’s worth it.

Note: For anti-belly touching cats, use a bowl filled with food. Some cats just don’t want to be touched on their bellies.

If this is the case, grab a spoon and a bowl filled with food. Put some food on the spoon and lure your cat into the standing position, then repeat the process described in Step 4.

3 Key Things to Remember When Teaching Your Cat to Sit

Keep Your Training Sessions Short

Keep your training sessions to 1-2 minutes long and do only 4 sessions a day. You don’t want to spend the whole day teaching your cat how to sit.

Both you and your cat will get tired and frustrating, making the entire process counterproductive.

Go One Step at a Time

Your cat needs to reach each level’s objective before advancing to the next step. Reward, reward, reward!

Encourage your cat to reach each level’s objective. By doing this, you will encourage them to learn desired behaviors which will make them want to do the desired behaviors more often.

Be Patient

Don’t expect your cat to learn in one session. Be patient.

Remember, this is a process. Cats learn best when everything is spread out over multiple, short sessions. Don’t throw everything at them at once.

If you’re still not sure how to teach your cat to sit or if you’re not sure if you’re doing it properly, don’t worry!  Check out the video link below and you should be good to go!

Video: How to Teach Your Cat to Sit

Final Thoughts On How To Teach Your Cat To Sit

This will be a learning process for your cat so you will need to practice as much patience as you can.

Having your cat sit up on something is the first step in teaching them how to sit.

Using food is always a good motivator to get a cat to do anything you want it to do that goes beyond just teaching it how to sit.

It may not necessarily easy at first, but it will be worth it.

Trust me, I have been through many cat-sitting training sessions and teaching a cat how to sit is a very enjoyable experience. It may just be an enjoyable experience for you too.