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The strays and ferals eat in my wooded lot to the side of the house and I also put food out in the front yard. I do feed mostly in the morning so as not to attract too many nocturnal, nighttime feeders.
I'm not sure if it's the same possum every time, but there is a big, fat, light-colored possum that climbs the trees out back (making the dogs crazy when they go outside at night) and also this possum eats shoulder-to-shoulder with the cats. The cats seem to regard the possum in a neutral and relaxed manner.
At this very moment, Fat-Butt (what I call him or her) is out front pushing the empty feeding tray around my front yard with its nose. It's very wary so I've yet to get a photo.
As an interesting data point, many people regard possums as scary or vicious or ugly because of how they look and because of their big teeth. They are actually very peaceable, gentle and generally beneficial critters and as America's only marsupial, they have a high natural body temperature, an unusually robust immune system and therefore are almost never rabies vectors.
I used to put out food for the stray cats, and had a possum come and eat at 10:30 one morning. It wasn't fat, though. After that, I only put out food if a cat was waiting to eat. I can't afford to feed all the cats, skunks and possums, so I limit it to the cats.
They may or may not be a rabies hazard, but I did see a recent nature documentary that stated that possums have among the highest load of internal and external parasites on average, of any wild North American animal.
But what are you gonna do? If the cats are feral/stray,they're out there in the wild with whatever critters they share space with, and you can't control that...I'd be more concerned about not only these cats falling prey to predatory creatures but just as signficantly drawing predators to live near your home. They had a problem in Seattle (in the city limits) with coyotes becoming suburbanites because they were drawn to people's outdoor pets and were feasting on cats and small dogs out of yards etc.
I totally get a desire to help homeless cats...I love cats...but the unintended consequences would make me stop and think for a minute, at the least...
I laughed when I saw the thread title. I had a possum that also used to eat with the cats. The cats just took it to be another "relative" and never bothered it. Unfortunatley about 8 months ago the dogs got it. I miss that pretty white possum, he/she was here for years.
Many years ago I lived in LA - well, Tha Valley. I had a little guest house with a very high fence around a little courtyard, and my cats got to go outside in the courtyard. A possum would travel through our courtyard, and it fascinated me how the cats would completely ignore it. Even my mouser female who murdered snakes and mice had no interest in the possum.
When I lived in Oklahoma I took a trip once and the lady who was watching my house/cats left the top half of my dutch door open to the elements. When I got back I discovered that night that a possum had moved into the 2nd bedroom behind my desk. Ewwwww! After freaking out considerably, I figured out the only way to get it out of the house without touching it: I opened the back door, put cat food in a bowl, and slowly pushed it out the door with a broom - the possum followed the food out. Again, the cats were no help - they just watched. What was the crazy human doing?
I don't know that various species can get diseases from one another without being bitten (?) Is saliva the carrier, or would the disease have to get in the bloodstream?
My cats were indoor/outdoor, and spent 90% of their time on the front porch on a garden lounge chair. I put dry food and water out there for them, because in summer they did not want to come in when I was at work.
A possum usually came around at night to munch on the food. I could tell it was him and not a cat just by the sound -- lots of chomping and very messy! The cats just watched from the lounge chair. If I happened to use the door and didn't know the possum was there, he would just freeze and not bother me. So cute with the little white bits on his ears!
How nice that I'm not the only one who enjoys possums. Their uglieness is sort of adorable.
Really I am not a fan of feeding wildlife which is why the outdoor cats get their main meal in the morning so they can graze all day....I do try not to leave food or anything else out at night to deter the possums and raccoons. But, whether they get occasional meals at my house or not, they're around, and very common around here.
And no doubt they are loaded with fleas and some other parasites. However, of the 15 or so cats I care for, there's only one I can even touch, another three that will come very close while I'm putting food down and the rest are truly feral and I only see them from a distance, or through my window. So they're pretty much living out there with wildlife.
I don't think coyotes or foxes are an issue where I live. Maybe a little further into farm country, for sure. I'm on the edge of a small city and have seen wild turkeys, possums, raccoons, snapping turtles and various toads, mice, skunks, squirrels and chipmunks on my property. But not quite rural enough for deer, coyotes or foxes.
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I don't know that various species can get diseases from one another without being bitten (?) Is saliva the carrier, or would the disease have to get in the bloodstream?
601, I guess it would depend on the disease? Heartworms are transmitted by mosquitoes, tapeworms, pseudo rabies and some other conditions by eating infected host animals....I think rabies by saliva or any contact with mucous membranes; not sure about that.
Whenever I trap and speuter one of the cats, I do get the rabies shot for them. So at least they've had one.
I am the only person that I know who has had a pet opossum
As in, an actual pet. Got him as a baby (A litter was abandoned at the house of a guy who worked for my dad), stayed inside in a very large cage, wandered around the house, walked around outside on a harness/leash, carried him around, rode on the shoulder, etc etc.
They're not very bright but he was a pretty neat pet I don't really think they're ugly at all, love their little hands and big long pointy muzzle.
But yeah, they really like the cat food. And dog food. And dog biscuits. And roadkill (Though mine never got to try such delicacies), which is probably where the high level of parasites and such come from.
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It's very wary so I've yet to get a photo.
