If the saying: ‘You can't teach an old dog new tricks' is true, the same can't be said for cats.

Welcome Bay Vet Clinic's Anna Swetman with Maggie. Photo by: Tracy Hardy.

Thirteen-year-old tabby Maggie is proving she's smarter than she looks by impressing visitors to Welcome Bay Vet Clinic with her bag of tricks.

A slightly scatty Maggie started hanging out at the clinic about 18 months ago and trainer Anna Swetman, who runs the clinic's puppy training classes, noticed Maggie's intelligence.

Anna began putting her obedience training skills to work on the feline.

'I thought if ‘you're going to hang out here, you can work for it'. She's got a brain she may as well use it. When she was doing tricks she wasn't having a go at someone.”

Maggie has since perfected a CV of tricks performed on demand, which include coming on command, sitting on command, smooching, a standing high five, and a trick called ‘Stick ‘em up'.

'She's not a dancing dog, but she's clever for a cat, she got it pretty quick.”

Anna performs the tricks in front of her puppy classes, and says Maggie has never failed to perform.

'It's good for people at the puppy training to see, if we can teach a cat then they can teach their puppy.

'It was never really intended to be for show, it was to keep her brain busy.”

The same teaching process applies to cats as to puppies, says Anna, with Maggie getting liver treats each time she performs.

A mild addiction to the treats saw her develop a new skill on her own.

'She got a wee bit addicted to the treats. We'd come into the kitchen and her head would be in the jar, but we didn't know how she got in there.

'One day we caught her, she'd just run her paw down the side of the lid until it came off.”

Anna has since taught Maggie to open jars on demand too.

Follow Maggie's blog ‘Maggie's Mews' at www.welcomebayvetclinic.co.nz