Opossums are odd-looking critters best known as ‘possums in Northern America. These marsupials are nocturnal and can present quite a surprise when you open your door to the garage and find one staring right back at you with its sharp teeth, beady dark eyes and freaky feet.
Possums love rotten fruit, garbage and pet food. If you have any of those items sitting in your garage or on your porch, chances are you just might draw in a possum.
Experts advise to leave them alone, because if cornered and feeling threatened, they will hiss and bare their teeth. It’s true that they help out by eating unwanted pests around the house and garden, like spiders, cockroaches, rats, mice and snakes.
But there’s still something incredibly unnerving about finding one of these guys rustling about in your garbage sitting outside the door waiting to be taken out to the receptacle.
Michelle Slater’s family spied a stray cat wandering around their property, skirting up and down the driveway. They had hoped to rescue it and make sure it was okay, but it took off before she could even make it out the door to try and catch it.
“…a cat came up to Evan as he was leaving his car and Evan gave him pets and visited then came in to tell me about it. So, of course, I ran out and the kitty was GONE.”
Worried about the cat’s well being and concerned it could be starving, she decided to set out some food. Maybe, that would convince the cat to stick around through the night so she could check on it in the morning.
It also made her feel better knowing that she at least tried to help the stray cat.
The next day, Michelle glanced out the door and noticed that the food she had left on the deck had been consumed. She felt very relieved that the cat had received some nourishment.
“I sat wet food out and came to check it a few times. Never saw the kitty but about one hour later the food was gone, so GAME ON.”
It still wasn’t staying around for her to check on, but she vowed to help it. So she left more food out the next night for the cat.
When the weather was forecast to turn chillier, she grew worried. Michelle equipped the cat for a brisque overnight.
“The temps dropped on April 6th, so I set out the [cat] house and blanket with a garden rock for a personal touch … I set food and water bowls out by the door. So I feed this kitty for a week or so and never saw it.”
Michelle could tell that the cat was still visiting their home, since the food kept being noshed on and the bedding had been rustled about in. It was almost as if Goldilocks herself had been there eating the food and sleeping in the bed without a trace.
Since the cat was very elusive and disappeared whenever she looked for it, Michelle bestowed him with a moniker: Loki. The character from “The Avengers” has a sneaky habit of vanishing when it’s to his advantage.
But she wasn’t about to give up hope. Michelle decided to see if she could spy the cat in action.
“I had to catch it. I started calling him my ‘phantom kitty.'”
She stayed up late one night to snag a glimpse of her mysterious pet cat only to find…
…a possum was hanging out in the cat house.
“I went out last night to catch him and look at this ‘cat!'”
All this time, she may or may not have been feeding the stray cat. Who knows?
But she wasn’t going to give up on the sneaky critter just because some people consider them pests.
“I feed him every day and fill his water up. It’s always gone the next morning, but I haven’t gotten to see him again yet. He is still my phantom ‘kitty.’”
How crazy is Michelle’s encounter with this new roommate? Have you had a close encounter with a possum or other wild animal?
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