This is the paw-sitively hilarious moment a cat owner suddenly realises her clever pet has been faking a limp in order to earn her sympathy.

The owner – not named in local media in Yichun, in northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province – filmed the feline as it walked into her convenience store seeming completely fine.

Then – as the clip shows – it suddenly notices its owner inside and begins walking on three legs, faking a limp on its front paw.

The puss even lies down for a second – apparently acting like it needs to rest its ‘lame’ leg and throwing an innocent-looking glance at the woman filming.

Then it gets back up and continues with its routine as it greets another cat and walks further inside the store, keeping its leg up throughout.

Despite not having fully deceived its owner, the naughty kitty maintains the act, apparently hoping to get extra attention and delicious treats.

She later shared the video on Douyin – China’s version of TikTok – with the humorous caption: “Mischievous cat, [in here] no bargaining [is] allowed.”

Netizens admired the cat’s wit, with some also sharing similar experiences with their pet.

Douyin user ‘cat tail’ wrote: “He stood at the door and thought for a second: Which leg was supposed to be limping?”

Another user titled ‘Yuan Yuan’ said: “Cats can pretend! My cat is pretending to be sick! It took thousands of dollars to go to the hospital to check everything that can be checked! The final conclusion is that it is in a bad mood.”

And user ‘Xiaofei’ commented: “The world is crazy! Cats are starting to blackmail people.”