"Bobcat" wrote in message
...
On Jan 23, 2:04 pm, "MaryL" -OUT-THE-LITTER

You may enjoy it, but that's not a good idea. Someday, someone who is
not
aware of your "game" may get nailed and seriously injured. And it will
be
Mooch that will be blamed, and could even be reported if he causes
injuries.
This is the same reason why people should not play with kittens by
tickling
their tummies and letting the kitties grab at their hands. It later
becomes
painful and possibly even dangerous, and the cat has no way of knowing
why
it is suddenly "wrong."

But he's currently a feral cat that's being very slowly socialized. I
think the benefit of the bond the game is allowing them to form, in
the long term, greatly outweighs the risk that the shy Mooch may be
blamed for playing too roughly with another person.

Ahh. I missed that. Thanks!
MaryL

Besides, there's no danger he'll claw another person and be punished,
because I'm the only one he'll allow to touch him - and it's taken
almost five years of patience to gain his trust. My Special Person is
the only other human who can get near him when she feeds him, and even
then he backs away from her while she's putting down the bowls. Like
most strays, Mooch is very cautious, and that's a good thing. It's why
he's survived as long as he has.

- - - - - - - -

Yes, I didn't realize what type of cat Mooch is. I do a lot of jumping
around on the NGs, so I had missed that.

MaryL