Friday, September 30, 2011

There's a Possum in my house!


This past Sunday Don went to visit his parents. He came home Wednesday night with a tiny surprise...my little Possum! I know, she's actually a five-week-old kitten, but with her pointed face and pink nose I thought she looked just like an opossum and the name stuck.

Possum was the runt and the only tortoiseshell in a litter of orange tabbies. She's eating well on her own and seems content living in a crate next to the computer desk until she's bigger. Possum has shown no fear of the dogs, in fact, she seems very interested in them. Last night she and Aislinn were playing together through the crate bars.

Of course, she gets to come out to cuddle with me. Possum loves to lie on her back cradled in the crook of my arm and swat at my fingers. She's just the sweetest little thing and Don was a real sweetie to bring her home as a surprise.

I have to admit though, we actually did have a possum in the house the first year we lived here on the farm. We had opossums coming into the garage to eat cat food (with the cats...they didn't seem to mind). One morning we found a baby possum under the shelving and figured it had fallen off mom while she was feasting on cat food. Don caught it and named it Possie.

Possie lived in a cat carrier in the laundry room until it got warmer weather and he grew a bit. Then we put him in a cage on the front porch. I never tried to tame him or turn Possie into a pet and when he was big enough we set him free. For several days after we released Possie he would come back and sleep in his cage, but finally he abandoned it completely...just as we'd hoped.

I'd adopt an orphaned opossum again in a heartbeat should the opportunity arise, but for now I'll just love on my little Possum kitty!

3 comments:

  1. My Yard Jaguars (three black kittens I took in) shared their shed, unknown for me for a good amount of time, with a Possum family, and like your cats they didn't seems to mind when the whole extended family joined up at the food bowl.

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