feral/domestic cat visciousness

My cat knows he is my cat. He definitely feels safe and familiar with me, but after 2 years and a castration when he was7mth old, he is vicious. I have, continously scratched arms, but he sleeps with me and even waits for me to wake up instead of waking me up. I have lived with cats since a child. He's feral, I know he has energy, I have his favorite toys with which he runs (and he brings back for another throw like a dog), I understand little nipping, what I don't understand is when he sees an arm and becomes defensive and aggressive.

[Savas]

Have you had this cat since its birth? I'm not sure what you mean here. Does your cat just out of the blue attack you if you reach in his general direction, or is it only when you go to pick him up or pet him?

The end result is he's scared and intimidated. After all, you are a giant compared to him. This can happen regardless of whether kitty was abused or not. Like people, incidents happen when cats are very little, and their young minds blow it all out of proportion. HE may not even be aware of what caused him to be this way, he's just reacting from old fear.

In these cases, understanding is nice, but unnecessary. It's sort of like the old joke;

Patient "Doctor, it hurts when I go like *this*!"

Doctor; "Then don't do *that*." :)

Here's an important question; do you feel SAFE with your cat? If you avoid doing what it is that makes him aggressive? CAN you avoid doing it? Is this possible/guessable (what's setting him off?)?