There is a possum in the stray kitty-cat bed.

[Flaxbee]

OK, so I posted earlier about trying to find a home for a few stray felines. Outside, I have made a few beds (one with heating pad), including one with a foam mattress (about 2 inches thick, 2 feet square) on the top step of the outdoor stairs where one of the kitties (6-7 months old) likes to perch and stare at me through the kitchen window, in an attempt to make me feel guilty and bring more food.

So anyway, stray kittycats have buggered off somewhere tonight, and when I look outside to check, there is a youngish possum cosied up on the foam mattress, apparently snug for the night.

My husband and I think this is exceedingly cute. Are we crazy? Just call us the Doolittles, OK?

[MonkeyFunk]

1. Aw, that's adorable.

I love possums.

[Mojorabbit]

2. I love possums too

I have raised and released about fifty of them and see them outside every now and then. They raid my outdoor dry catfood bowl. I keep food out there for a ferral cat that showed up. I have two female ferral cats that are tame and indoor outdoor cats and we call the latest "under the house cat". If he sticks around he will be neutered and adopted too. Right now he is too wild to approach.

[fudge stripe cookays]

3. This thread is useless without pix!

I like their funny Skeletor fingers.

[Flaxbee]

5. I've tried to get a few...

but it's dark out, and the screen wire keeps the photo from being too clear. I'll try to post one a little later or tomorrow if I can clean it up some.

[marzipanni]

4. Our dog finds this possum occasionally

and trees it. I'd rather have her chase mice and roof rats away and let the possum be.
The word is going to get around about your luxurious accommodations, and kitties from miles around will be looking for soft beds at your place.

[Fire Walk With Me]

7. Okay, that's cute.

I've met at least one person with a possum as a ride-on-the-shoulder pet.

[Flaxbee]

8. that's kinda what our little guy tonight looks like!

white face, pink nose and dark fur. Some of the older ones seem to be mostly whitish-gray.

Sigh. Moved here with 2 cats, now have 7. There are several feral males that I feed (and want to catch, if possible, and have neutered) but we haven't had any young friendly females or males show up in a few years. These two girls who just showed up a few days ago that I'm trying to care for really need homes - well, at least one does. The other shows up for breakfast and then takes off, but the second female really is needy. Definitely two girls from the same family - almost identical coloring, same size, etc.

Trouble is, we live in idiot-red-religiousville, and for years there was no animal control officer. Now at least the county is funding the humane society, though it's not a no-kill place. I don't know if it's better to get the cats spayed and let them live on their own - it is rural here, lots of farmland - or take them about an hour away to a no-kill shelter once they're spayed. And if the shelter has room. I know cats can devastate bird populations, so I'm sensitive to that issue, too, but I just can't take them all in. My softie heart would love to, but my practical mind doesn't want me and my husband to become slaves to an ever-increasing number of critters, you know?

[SoCalDem]

13. Been there , done that.. and I guarantee you it will BREAK your heart

a momcat adopted us and we ended up feeding and worrying about the "clan" that evolved..

Long story short, the ones that we did not bring in and bottle feed, all ended up dead within 4 years..(out of about 8).. One windter they all must have walked through antifreeze somewhere, because I had to ferry feral cats who would never allow me to even get close (although w gave them a cozy doghouse stuffed with old comforters & pillows for insulation and always gave them food & fresh water..) to the vet when they all were dying (4 in one week)...anyway, our vet euthanized them for me, and the two who apparently did not wash their feet, survived a few more years, but now they are all gone, and we will never again be softies..

We caught them with Have-a heart traps and had them neutered..tried to acclimate them to indoor living, but never could tame them and we have MANY indoorsies who did not deserve the havoc, so we did the best we could ( all the shelters near her euthanize all ferals..)

[Maraya1969]

6. I think it is adorable. A little one was coming into the house through the dog door

and would eat the cat food but I think when he/she got older he/she found new food.

[Richard Steele]

9. I consider that to be a normal stage in the "caring for animals" progression.

I put a bowl of CatChow on the porch for the local stray cats 7 years ago;
within 18 months I was not only the local cats' favorite "large hairless primate",
but I also had possums tripping me on their way to the bowl, and at least
one raccoon who recognized me by voice and would DEMAND that I personally
serve her favorite treat (our leftover pizza crusts) by HAND.

[Flaxbee]

10. I just fed her? him? a half a banana. The other half rolled down

the stairs, but is waiting for her should she want it.

Raccoons around here, too.

If this were our permanent home, I'd welcome everyone and everything. But it isn't, and I hope we'll be moving in 4-6 months into our own place in a different state, and I worry about the creatures becoming too dependent and feeling freaked and/or lost for food when we leave. I'd feed everyone and everything, if I could.

[SoCalDem]

12. My friend heard a noise in the kitchen one night..

she sneaked down the hall and flipped on the light and scared the bejeesus out of TWO raccoons who had snuck in the doggie door.. they were busily washing & eating dog food in the kitchen and when they saw her, they FREAKED out.. One skittered past her and out the doggy door, but the other one ran into the living room, and managed to get tangled up the the tablecloth , (formerly) on the table in the dining room along the way..

By then the noise had woken everyone up, and mass mayhem ensured as they tried to coax the manic raccoon outside again..

The 10 yr old daughter solved the problem.. she took the dog & cat to her room, shut them in, and opened the front &back door... the humans retreated and the raccoon left too.. They found the table cloth in the front yard :)

[fudge stripe cookays]

11. Pizza eh?

My brother used to live in an apartment complex built over a ravine where lots of raccoons lived. They'd crawl up the sides of the buildings at night looking for cat food.

He'd leave his screen door open while he was watching TV and give them Chips Ahoy cookies. Funniest thing I'd ever seen, raccoons trying to wash off their cookies in the water outside.

[Lance_Boyle]

14. Had the cats been present, they'd have ended up inside-out.

I like opossums just fine, but they will seriously fuck up a cat. Probably not the best idea to encourage co-mingling by feeding them in the same location.

[Flaxbee]

15. yeah, I know.... they all seem to keep each other at

arm's length... cats stay away from opossums, and opossums don't provoke a fight, either. I do worry about it, but we're so rural the opossums will show up no matter what I do. I have all my indoor/outdoor cats in by dusk, but now with these new little furry fellows showing up, there's not much I can do.

[Lance_Boyle]

17. I had a BIG opossum show up on my back porch a few nights ago.

I heard a crashing sound at 2 in the AM and went to the door to check it out - this BIG opossum had gotten into a recycling bin. I turned on the porch light and he looked back towards the window at me and then went on about his business of licking empty beer bottles as if nobody was watching. The nonchalance of a local top-level predator, I guess. Since I have no outdoor pets, I'm considering inviting this guy back. I do find them awfully cute with their big British smiles.

[Parche]

16. Hey Flaxee

Just dont give that Possum to the Clampetts.......:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

:hi:

[Flaxbee]

18. nooo, I don't plan to...

:hi: ;-)

Husband's granddad was quite poor in the South, though - I know possums were consumed on a relatively regular basis, along with anything else that could be caught.

[Roon]

19. Ick!

eom

[Arkansas Granny]

20. Possums are the reason I had to stop feeding the cat on the front

porch. I installed a pet door in one of my windows for my girl and the feral tom cat that stops by for a meal now and then. It has cut down on my nocturnal possum visits.

If a possum gets into the back yard with the dog, I find it's body the next morning. She has killed several of them over the years.

[hedgehog]

21. Not to be a wet blanket, but before you start feeding wild critters,

try googgling " Raccoon roundworm"

[applegrove]

22. How cute is that.