I just went outside to make sure my cats had water before i went to bed, a possum was eating the cat food and my cat (as loving as he is) was gently rubbing himself on the possums side while he was eating their food and my other cat was eating with him! now thats something you dont see everyday! i wish i had batteries for my camera, that was a kodak moment lol thank god possums have a natural resistance to rabies!
My indoor/outdoor kitty befriended a young possum - she never leaves the porch and front yard, and is inside about 12 hrs a day. She mainly likes to eat and nap outside. . .anyway one night I came home and this thing scurried away - I only caught a glimpse and saw it was a very small possum - my kitty sat there on the porch undaunted, which surprised me as she is a real mouser and had decapitated bunnies (very sad) and left them on the porch for us. We have a dog house on the porch with blankets so that if she is out when we go out and she doesn't want to come in, she has shelter should the weather turn bad. The possum started being a regular visitor and got to the point that it would just freeze when we approached the front door. We'd see it sharing her food and water and I had checked online and read that they are resistant to rabies as KenlyAngel mentioned and that they find cat food a delicacy and it went on to mention that they typically get along with cats and are docile unless cornered. That possum hung around - we'd see it with her almost every night, (occasionaly she and the possum were in her house together on rainy nights) until winter time and then disappeared - the following spring a possum was back and we figured it must have been the same one as it just froze and didn't scurry when we appeared, it too shared her house. Winter came and it disappeared again and then come spring back it was again. One night last fall, I heard a thumping on the front porch - I looked out to see the possum staggering a bit, bumping into things. My cat by it's side. It appeared it had either been injured (though no visible trauma) or was dieing of old age - (had a guinea pig do that when he was ancient) We let things be - the possum hung out deep under the blankets in the dog house during the day (when prior we had never seen it in daylight hours) for a couple of days and we'd here it stumble about trying to negotiate its way to the food and water - the cat refused to come inside, she stayed by her friend - during the day she'd let it in her house and she'd lay outside like she was guarding it. One night I came home and she was walking side by side with the staggering possum going toward the wooded lot next door to us. We never saw the possum again. I guess she decided to help her friend die someplace more natural to it than a dog house - very sad, but it was sweet at the same time. I've read that in the wild possums generally live about 1-2 years, though in captivity 5 years is more their natural life span. I suppose befriending the cat may have helped this one live as long as it did.
I wish I could find the one of her and the possum together - I had it printed out but didn't save it to disk :-( It's around here. . .somewhere...
zoo that is so sweet! i heard so many stories about them having rabies and attacking people. but its not true at all. one of my friends thats an animal control officer said he had a lady call him up and tell him that there was a very large mouse on her porch, he had to explain to the lady that it was a possum lol i hope i get to get a picture with all of them together again! i would love to share it with yall if i do get that chance, it was so awesome!
What a sweet sweet story... we have regular possums on our front porch as well. We leave cat food & water on the front porch for the outdoor/feral kittys, and my own when they are stuck on the wrong side of the door too. Every night, we have possum visitors... its really cute when the momma comes up with the baby. My cats just sit in their chairs, or on the swing, railing, whatever..and watch. I came out one night last week and startled this little roly-poly one who has become a regular visitor... and he ran behind the cat house, he was kind of stuck with nowhere to go.. I actually touched his tail and he/she didn't seem to be to scared of me.
tassy ive always been SCARED TO DEATH of possums untill someone told me they were harmless. now i have a different outlook on the cute critters, and after last night i now have a soft spot for them lol
What great stories! Apparently dogs don't 'feel' the same way about possums as cats, so I won't tell you my dog/possum (mama & babies) story......... :evil:
Me too girl, they look like big ole rats to me. When I was a teenager, my nephew lived with my parents and was more like a little brother to me, he used to sets traps all out on our 20 acres for fox squirrels, etc. and one day he had brought a trap back (all wood-couldn't see in it) and opened it and this damn possum chased me, it scared the crap out of me. I actually have a friend of my Mom's who is an older lady, who will rescue any critter. She's raised possums, racoon's, etc. from babies and had them house trained like cats. The possum I was scared of, but Ricky the raccoon was so cool every time I went over he'd run and jump in my lap and want to play (I was a young girl). She even had a pet skunk, now that was cool as well.
I can't stand em! They hiss and just look ooky to me, nothing cute about them, the look like a giant rat. <<Shudder>>:jester:
Don't get me wrong.. I wouldn't try to hold him, or approach him otherwise. But, since he couldn't go anywhere, I just wanted to see what his tail felt like. I've read somewhere, a possum rescuers website, in the spring when they are hit in the road, alot of times there is a baby in the pouch on the females. This women stops and checks them, bringing home the babies if they are still alive and caring for them until they can be released into the wild. Growing up, I had a cousin who rescued some animals for his boyscout badge, and he had a baby raccoon. You want to talk about sweet...Lester was adoreable and it was cute when he would climb up your leg for a Honeycomb (cereal), those were his favorite treats. Ofcourse it wasn't so funny when he was almost full grown...LOL... he let himself out the back gate one day and one can only presume he went on to live a happy, healthy life.
Zoo...that was an adorable story. If you find the other pic, please do post it. What a sweet kitty you have. I grew up in the country with all kinds of critters. But if DH came up on a possum...well, I think I'd be making funeral arrangements. :lol: I'll never forget the time we went to vist his parents in GA years ago. The 4 of us were sitting up talking in the den after the kids went to sleep. DH decided to turn in. He walked down the hall and as he passed the kitchen, he froze. I saw him and asked what was wrong. He told me to come here fast. He's seen a rat poking it's head out from a cabinet and it scared him to death. He HATES rodents, any type. Funny thing is, DH and my Father-in-Law stood in chairs while my Mother-in-law and I chased the rat until it got back to it's hole and escaped. Exterminator was out hte next day. That rat was the size of a small dog. You can bet, Mom-in-law and I never let the "guys" live that one down.
