The trot is faster than the walk but slower than the canter and is the gait commonly employed by the cat to move purposefully from one place to another. When trotting the cat’s head is commonly held below the level of the shoulders and the tail is most often held out behind the body, below the level of the spine, although the lower portion may be tilted upwards. The tail can occasionally be held above the horizontal but is not usually held vertically as it may be during a walk (unless during affiliative behaviour). The trot is a two beat gait where diagonally opposite paws are raised off the ground simultaneously.

The follwoing videos demonstrate the gait both from the side and the front.