A large part of it is picking the right cat.
Some cats and cat-owners roughhouse more than others. I wrestle a bit with one of my cats – he understands it’s a game, and he knows that I know when he’s had enough teasing. And I fairly often pick up either of them with a move that involves a complete 360-degree head-over-heels spin. Part of the trick is developing the game gradually over time – just as you would with a kid; you don’t grab a kid off the street and do the toss-into-the-air thing or similar, but with your own kid the two of you have time to work out that it is a safe game.
And some cats are more patient than others, or more willing to do things for approval rather than food reward. Which also takes time. I had a cat I could do just about anything with, partly because we’d been together so long and partly because I deliberately got her used to being manhandled a bit so I could administer grooming or medical treatment without so much objection. Even now I deliberately handle the kids’ paws on a regular basis so they aren’t quite so annoyed when I need to trim claws, and turn them at odd angles occasionally so when I need to examine them they don’t immediately say “this is weird” and want to run off.
And some cat owners are willing to bribe the cat with treats to get them to play this sort of game.
I don’t think my cats would have been willing to make this video. But I’m not surprised that someone had a cat who would tolerate it – at least for a while; I presume the video cuts off at the point where the cat said “Enough” and kicked off or tried to nip.
And all it takes is one cat and a few minutes to create a viral video.
