Arnold is afraid of ...ANTS!

Arnold, our big black cat, is always trying to sneak outside. When he is successful he usually rolls around on the cement and we can easily catch him. Arnold is a very confident cat, nothing seems to upset him - or so we thought. Last Saturday we took Arnold outside, on a leash. He did very well. He didn't fight it all, munched on some grass (which he later barfed up in the house), and checked things out. Finally he laid down on the wooden deck to rest. We were all sitting on the deck. I saw the ant approach Arnold. As soon as he saw the ant he jumped up and ran over to my side and laid down. I pointed out another ant to him and he went berserk. He jumped up ran to the end of the leash and wiggled out of the harness. We put him back in the house and he wouldn't go near the door again for the rest of the day. I wonder if there are fire ants in Baltimore(Arnold's home town) and maybe he had an unfortunate experience with them.