Through the cat door

[spinbaby]

A friend showed off some photos this morning. She has a cat door and has recently noticed some strange nighttime noises and found the cat food picked clean in the morning. She started locking the cat door at night, but the strange goings on continued. Odd looking poop appeared in the litter boxes. A camera revealed the culprit—a possum had moved into her house. It is apparently sleeping under the furniture at night and is coming out to eat and use the cat litter at night. The cats don’t seem to mind. It’s unclear what the next step is.

[DonaldsRump]

1. She should call the local/city/county vector control agency

They might be able to trap the critter, or they will certainly be able to recommend companies that do this legally and humanely.

Possums are cute, but in the outdoors!

[fleur-de-lisa]

6. They're easy to trap with a cat carrier and a broom. And it's very humane.

You can easily scoot a possum into the carrier with the broom. I've done it many times. I've had an easier time catching possums than raccoons or feral cats.

[Phoenix61]

2. How funny it uses the litter box. nt

[peacebuzzard]

4. Indeed.

I saved a veteran street cat who immediately knew what a litter box was. I thought that was amazing.

[fleur-de-lisa]

7. I wonder if they can smell the poo and pee in the box from when the cat uses it.

[peacebuzzard]

3. What a challenge! those critters look so odd but are docile.

I always worried about creatures entering my huge dog doors.
My cat always escaped when she could. (she normally had her own room.)

[SharonClark]

5. I adopted a farm cat that never adjusted to inside life so

I installed a cat door into the garage and built a heated house for her that sat on the work bench. One evening when I was checking the cat, I saw 2 sets of eyes looking back at me - my cat in her heated house and a young opossum sitting on top of her house. The visitor was gone in the morning.

[Laffy Kat]

8. Possums are great.

As far as we know, they carry ZERO diseases. They spend their entire short lives (usually) eating thousands of ticks. Still, I probably wouldn't want one in my house. I wonder if your friend could set-up a warm and cozy possum habitat in her yard.

[TexasBushwhacker]

9. The can carry some diseases, but not RABIES

Their body temperature is too low. They're also immune to rattlesnake venom!

You are correct about their lifespan though. Only about 2 years in the wild and 4 years in captivity if they're lucky.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

10. You now have a pet possum.

[Judi Lynn]

11. After seeing your post, looked for photos with cats and possums in them:

Awwwwwww.