"Ron M." wrote in message

I'm assuming he was terrified by some dog or something. This has been
going on for a week now. Any advice would be MOST welcome.

Thanks,
Ron M.

Unfortunately, since we don;t speak the same language as our cats, you can;t
explain to him that is OK,and that the danger is gone. So the only thing you
can do is give him lots of reassurance, petting, nice tone of voice, and
lots of bribes. Do not under any circumstences force him to go out, as you
will just reinforce the panic. Just let him do what he wants for now, even
if that means being in the cupboard where he feels safe. You';ll see, in a
few weeks he'll start coming out as cats are naturally very curious. For
now, you just reassure him that as long as he is at home nobody will hurt
him. He has created a negative association with the outside for whateva
reason, and that will need to be broken, but extremely slowly, by helping
him grow back his self-confidence. Saying that, it's probably better he
stays indoors, where he will be safe from other animals people and cars.

Whot happened outside, yeah could;ve been a dog, or another tom that he had
a fight with. We have a local bully Barney who although nice to humans,
hates any male cat! He will fight them to death! The amount of times I had
to rescue a scared kitty from top of a tree, while Barney guarded it from
underneath. So yeah you may have a local bully there who knows. Just don't
force him. He'll be fine.

This is a good time for the bribe and lots of petting him.

Gee