Cat

C is for cat, of course, how else could it possibly be in this house?

I have mentioned numerous cuts on my hands at work, and had people say, well, yes, you have a cat. And I show them my arms. There are no cat scratches. Cuts from work, fissures in my thumb, scrapes, but not claw marks. Moby does not do skin attacks on humans, whether out of personal dislike of the feeling, innate gentleness, or early experiences. He's scratched us accidentally, once got D good while being put in the bag in the general flailing of not bloody well going into the baggedness. And once while I was holding him, he startled very badly at a very loud noise, and I got a nice scratch across my shoulder. Twice in the five years he's been with us. Neither intentional.

Likewise, he's never bitten either of us. Once put his teeth on my big toe, just to get my attention, when his paw was bleeding.

And the black cat of my childhood was the same way. The odd accidental claw scratch, but never an attack.

We like to think it's in some part because we never give him reason. But it's more than that. He's just a gentle soul, a personality without malice.