Tip that should encourage your cat to voluntarily jump off your lap

This is a rather strange tip, and I am not entirely sure that it will work every time. And, in any case, who wants their cat to jump off their lap? Most cat owners like their cat on their lap. 

But sometimes there is a limit to how long you'd like your beloved, darling cat to stay on your lap because (1) your legs are seizing up at the knee joint (2) you are reading a broadsheet newspaper and it is almost impossible to do this when your cat is on your lap (3) you need to get up to go to the bathroom or make some tea or get a beer etc.

Cat comfortable on a warm lap. This is a stock image as I don't have a photo of my cat on my lap while I am sitting in my armchair. Image: Pixabay.

You can delicately push him off your lap if you like. That'll work but I don't like doing that because I don't want my cat to get the impression that I want him off my lap. I like him on my lap, and he comes on my call. 

Sometimes cats get used to signals which mean that their caregiver is going to get up. Mine does this when I turn off the tele. The silence is a signal that I am getting up but that is not the tip.

Here IS the tip 😉. It is a bit strange, but it works 100% for me. I give my cat a small treat of something like a tiny piece of cheese or ham or something like that. I place it on my leg near my knee in front of him so he can't miss it.

He almost invariably eats it. I give a second tiny treat and he eats that too. About 5-10 seconds later he jumps off my lap. Why?

I have been trying to figure it out and I have come up with the only reasonable answer to that question: after he eats the small treat, he is programmed to walk away from his 'food bowl'. Subconsciously he thinks that he is at his food bowl in the kitchen. He thinks that he has had a meal.

Whenever a domestic cat has a meal at their bowl, when they have finished, they walk away from the bowl and do something else. They don't plonk down next to the food bowl and go to sleep. 

They always move away. This is what he is doing when he eats that tiny treat. He is programmed to do it.

He did it this morning while I was struggling with The Sunday Times which is a broadsheet newspaper. You know the old-style newspapers. Huge. I dislike them these days.

He hates it anyway when I am faffing around with the paper, and it makes crinkling sounds. He hates the sounds. So, it is a good thing for him to vacate his comfortable and cosy lap.

We are both satisfied with the outcome. That's the tip. If you try it, please leave a comment.