Oh great!!!!

[popcornbird]

As many of you know, we have two little kitties that have been coming to our backyard for several months now, and have claimed our home as *their's*. It has come to the point that one of them has attained complete 'pet status', and is here ALL the time...day and night. We bought a little plastic covered box for her and turned it into a cat-house, to protect her from the rain at night. She doesn't feel very comfortable coming inside the house. Anyhow, the cat LOVES her new house, but there is a problem.

Every night, I look outside to see if she's sleeping there. Very often, she is. Today, I checked...and the cat, who we call Emmy, was sitting at the door with airplane ears, looking at her 'house' in fear...then, ran off. I looked into her house, and THIS is what I found..........







Gosh...I've seen the darn possom several times, but NEVER so close. I'm assuming Em's food is attracting it, but we also put food out for the sparrows, and it was eating that too. There is no way we're going to stop feeding our backyard animals...but this oppossom...

Some of you might disagree, but I find oppossoms to be the dirtiest, smelliest, weird, ghost-looking, and most horrible animals ever. I don't know WHY, and sometimes feel guilty for hating the poor guy so much, but I just can't bear to look at it and think how UGLY it is. Gosh! In this picture, you only see its face, which *can* be 'okay-looking', and possibly 'cute' to some, but its body is NASTY! GROSS!!!! Its TAIL...OMG...I feel like I'm going to throw up...

How do I get rid of this creature. I tried to scare it by banging on the window, but it seems to be deaf. I don't want it here. What to do?
My heart hurts after seeing Ems so scared. Its ghost-like face glowing in the middle of the night is just so creepy.

[flamepony12]

iiiiigh. I hate those. >.< Poor Emmy, I'd be scared to death if that thing was in my house too. I don't have any ideas as far as getting it to leave goes, but good luck. heh. o_____o

[Lizzie]

Oh my! I can imagine your shock to see this guy/girl in your cat's house. Opossums are not cute to look at, it's true, but I find them rather fun and they are very useful since they eat slugs as well as rodents. It shouldn't harm your cat, your cat is more likely to harm the possum, but it won't like being cornered. You had better hope it isn't a mom looking for a nesting place!

You have created a wildlife friendly yard, and you have wildlife. The only way to stop this particular wildlife coming around is to remove the food. You could also use ammonia soaked rags, but I doubt if your cat will like that. Since they are good climbers, it's useless to try to place the cat house out of its way. The house actually looks far too exposed for a possum to really take over, they prefer more enclosed and tucked away spaces. I'll bet he/she was just curious and thought there might be food in there.

It looks like it's time to get Emmy used to being in your house if you are not willing to stop leaving out food.

[G535]

Sorry but I think that little critter is gorgeous!

[jenluckenbach]

S/he is cute. But the ONLY thing I can think of is a humane trap and relocation. (of course, there might be more to take his/her place)

[joycenalex]

a few years ago alex and angel duke "hunted" a opossum, really all they did was convince it to move on. can you 'borrow' a friends dog for a visit during the home invasion by the possum? and BTW i can understand the airplane ears on seeing her home invaded

[Alysser]

Maybe a humane trap as suggested before. When relocated they usually don't find their way back.

[Rie Rie]

That is just too funny!!!! I don't know how you would get rid of it.

[Kfamr]

I think it's cute, too. I've seen one in person, they don't seem as scary as you describe them to be. They remind me of large rats.

Of course, I'd never want one in my yard, however only because I KNOW my dogs would kill it (Simba was very close to doing that several years ago.)


The only thing I can think of is cutting off it's food source. Give the cat schedualed eating times and if she doesn't finish it completely, pick the food up. If it still comes around for the sparrow's food, then humanely trapping it and relocating may work.

[Edwina's Secretary]

When we lived in Chicago, I went to the basement one day and a possum was in the window well....and could not get out. When I turned on the light it lunged at the window.....one of the most frightening sights I have ever seen. Very, very NOT cute.

We put a board down and it was able to climb out.