Per MICHELLE H.:

We have a somewhat less-extreme animal.   It was taken off the streets of
Philadelphia as a kitten/very young cat by a friend of one of my daughters.
The friend's boyfriend was abusing it, so she gave it to my daughter.

At the time of transfer, you couldn't get near this thing: hissing, biting, and
scratching.

My daughter's husband had a set of welding gloves.   He's put them on and then
handle the cat - very gently.   After awhile, the animal stopped
biting/scratching the welding gloves and could be handled by the husband with no
problems.

But the cat still couldn't get along with the other four cats at my daughter's.
Did fine with the horses, dogs, and chickens - but wouldn't tolerate the other
cats.    Finally one of the other cats took it as it's mission in life to kill
this one.   After a few days of 27-7 stalking and several knock-down-drag-out
fights in the house, my daughter offloaded the cat to us.

With us, it was a few steps back to the beginning: neither I nor my wife could
touch it or even get too close.

I didn't have any welding gloves, so we just kept out distance and tried to
treat the thing as best we could.

It's been 2 years now and it has mellowed more than I would have expected. It's
been over 8 months since either one of us has shed any blood.  Very
occasionally, is snaps out and hisses - but then only runs away.  

Last 3-4 months, it has even been soliciting human touch.   When I let it in,
first thing it does is jump up on my workstation's keyboard platform where I
stroke it, rub it's head, and brush it with a wire brush.   This little love
fest lasts 2-5 minutes.   At first, I could only touch it in certain places -
like behind the ears..period.   Now I can stroke most of it's body.   Still
working on the chest, legs, and underbelly.

So, bottom line, I don't know if something with an apparent IQ in the single
digits can be said to have a personality.... but our cat's behavior, at least,
has changed more than I ever expected it to.

Here are a couple of useful links.

http://www.fabcats.org/nervous-aggression.html
http://www.sniksnak.com/cathealth/fear.html

I think given this poor cat's background, it would be wise to ask your vet
for a referral to a behaviourist.

I can certainly understand why this Cat behaves as he does...

You say you have had this Cat a "few years" and yet you have not seen
any improvement??

Do you interact with him daily? I have seen some very "hard" cases,but
usually a few months of TLC will show improvement.

Could it be possible that when you try to pet him,or lift him up,that
there might be some past injury that may be causing him pain? This is
not very obvious,but it has been a cause for this behavior in a few
Cats I have seen over the years. I also have seen people try to pet a
Cat and when it doesn't respond as they expect it to,they then hit it,
Children are the worse for doing this...if the Cat will not play with
me,then I'll hit it or throw something at it. Then the Cat associates
being petted with being hit.

If there has not been any improvement with your TLC over "a few years"
then perhaps you should seek professional help. He is still a fairly
young guy and I would think he can still be reversed. At least to a
point where he can become a family member while still not accepting
strangers.

I also wish to commend you on your efforts...most would have just
thrown this poor Cat out on the street or to the Dog Pound where if
would not be adoptable. Please hang in there...

Any

I don't "Suffer" from Insanity..I rather enjoy it!

CATTS
http://members.tripod.com/~thewebster/catts.html

I have seen a friends cat that was obviously tormented somehow before she
got, get better.

It used to hate me, hiss and growl, bite... completely out of control. Same
with meeting my cats, she was very agressive and mean.
After time, she came to realize no one was going to hurt her, and she is now
usually very nice, BUT, there are still times when she flips out and goes
crazy for awhile.
You can tell she has some issues, but with love and care, she has gotten
better.

Keep up the good work, let the cat come to you,
pretend you don't care and it should become interested!

I don't tend to think that keeping the cat isolated is helping.  The cat
should be allowed to have "it's" space where you leave it be.  But then also
allow it to come to the rest of the house to interact.

You might also have some luck adding another (better adjusted) cat.  They do
learn behaviors and do change trust.  They have long memories though, and
will remember traumatic situations for _years_.