Banishing an opossum from our yard?

[lalasmama]

I've got the heebee geebees. Seriously!

Over the summer, our cat spends 99% of the time outside, so we usually keep her food on the front porch. In 3 summers of doing this, we've never had a problem. No strays taking the food, no squirrels, no other wildlife.

... until last night.

There's a pretty daring, quite piggy, opossum who's downing the cat's Iams food at an astounding rate. (And that's d@mn spendy for me to be feeding the wildlife with!)

We've moved the cat food inside now. I bring it out when the cat is mewing at the door.

However, the opossum is still nosing around for the cat's food. My dear birthmom said, "Feed it or it will kill your cat!" but she's a little extreme sometimes, so I don't know if I am supposed to believe her! The neighbor said that he noticed the opossum several nights ago when his dogs were going wild at nightfall several days in a row--he saw it one time when he went out to get the dogs to quiet down.

Any ideas on how to get it to go live somewhere else? (And it won't *really* try to eat my cat, will it??)

[pinay]

We had a raccoon take up residence in our backyard with her babies and had to have her removed by a professional, but before we got to that point DH got some stuff from Home Depot that used chili peppers as an active ingredient to try to banish her. Probably would've worked if she wasn't protecting a nest in a giant bamboo bush, but since yours sounds like a visitor you may have better results. I'd keep the cat indoors as much as possible, if not to keep it from tangling with the opossum then to keep it away from whatever preventive measures you take. Good luck- those stinkers creep me out!

[SkyrMommy]

We've used different sized Have-a-Heart traps to move a variety of critters away from the house & gardens. I think my least favorite animal would be the possim, they just hiss nasty & smell awful if they spray, kind of like a skunk.

You could see if a friend has a trap you could borrow, or call a wildlife expert... But maybe if the eay food option is gone it will leave on its own. Good luck.

[dogmom]

A opossum won't eat your cat, but other things will or do a lot of damage. You need to stop feeding the cat outside, period. Your cat will get hungry enough and come inside. I don't know what is in your neck of the woods, but just feel lucky you've got away with the food on the porch things this long. It can attract raccoons (can do a lot of damage to cat), dogs, foxes, fishercats (if you got them-nasty creatures). Cat food is just yummy full of protein stuff, a dog will take it any time over dog food.

Stop with any food outside, see if the 'possum leaves after a couple of weeks, then call a person to trap it or trap it yourself. You really can't blame a wild animal for sidling up to an all you can eat midnight cat food buffet.

[JElaineB]

Is your SO handy with a baseball bat?

[indigo99]

Is your SO handy with a baseball bat?

Hope you're joking because that is cruel and sick.