New barn kitty and.....a possum?

[Iluvanimals]

Hi, so my aunt is gone at a vet conference this week, which means I feed the horses at night as well in the morning. Just now while I was feeding them and I went in the feed stall to feed all the barn cats, I saw a new cat. She is a cute, little (4-5lbs) grey tabby with a really annoying almost Siamese-like meow. She ran away as soon as I walked up to her and hid until I left the barn, but I got close enough to see she looks pregnant. WHY does it seem like we get a new cat dropped off (more often than not they are pregnant) every week? I guess my aunt and I will have to try catch her when my aunt gets back, that will be fun Also, when I was putting food outside the barn for the really wild/timid cats, I thought I saw ANOTHER new cat. This one looked really big and was silvery-grey. Well, I crept closer and walked around to where I could see it's face and.......... IT WAS A POSSUM. Well THAT got my heart going, I quickly backed away and got one of our dogs (a 150lb bouvier des flandres) and told him "get it" which means chase it out of the barnyard ("attack" means to kill it, like if it's a raccoon or cyote). I think my heart is still racing

[cat owner again]

150 pound dog!

[Iluvanimals]

Yeah, they are pretty big dogs, normally we have two at a time, but our older one(12) just died, hopefully we'll get another puppy this summer! We use them as working/guard dogs but they are very sweet to the family. I don't have a pic of Bruce (yes, named after Bruce Wayne ), but here is are pics of what they look like.
bouvier des flandres - Google Search

[cinderflower]

at least you didn't think it was a big rat. possums are mean and disgusting little things. gross.

[NebraskaCat]

I had a similar experience when I was young. I grew up on a cattle ranch and I kept chickens (laying hens) in a little coop with a pen so I could sell eggs for extra money. I would usually gather eggs in the early morning and late afternoon. One night I waited too late to go gather eggs and it was dark out and the hens had all gone to roost. I took the flashlight and was getting the eggs out of the nests when I noticed a tail inside one of the nests. I thought it was just a little garter snake since they sometimes sneak in to eat an egg. But I shown my light into the nest and staring back at me were those beady black eyes of a possum. It freaked me out. I ran back to the house to get my dad but when we got back to the chicken coop, the possum was gone. It was my fault for not gathering the eggs and locking the coop earlier. Lesson learned.

[cinderflower]

Originally Posted by Iluvanimals

Yeah, they are pretty big dogs, normally we have two at a time, but our older one(12) just died, hopefully we'll get another puppy this summer! We use them as working/guard dogs but they are very sweet to the family. I don't have a pic of Bruce (yes, named after Bruce Wayne ), but here is are pics of what they look like.
bouvier des flandres - Google Search

those are really sweet dogs. i was in the hospital for a long time and a guy brought his to visit everyone and it was bigger than i am LOL. it was fine until it tried get in bed with me.

[Carmel]

Originally Posted by Iluvanimals

told him "get it" which means chase it out of the barnyard ("attack" means to kill it, like if it's a raccoon or cyote).

Encouraging your dog to kill/attack anything isn't a good idea.

Raccoons are opportunistic scavengers that aren't all that harmful -- I've watched raccoons and cats interact my entire life, they aren't to be feared like the general population seems to believe -- and when they are pushed into defending themselves can seriously harm a dog. Our Jack Russell Terrier would get into fights with them, all she started; she had scars on her nose from fighting with them and wrecked her legs as a pup when she jumped over an embankment after them.

A coyote can do even more damage given their size. There's also the romote chance of both species carrying rabies or distemper.

The woman that ran the daycare I went to as a child owned two Bouvier dogs.

[Greenport ferals]

Originally Posted by Carmel

Encouraging your dog to kill/attack anything isn't a good idea.

I second that.
I like possums. Raccoons too. They can be a nuisance around the feral barn, but I trap them humanely and relocate them. I would never kill them.

[Iluvanimals]

The only times we send the dogs after things are when they are in the chicken pens and/or rabbit pens, then both dogs know to get rid of it. They also take out coyotes if they are going after our goat or sheep herds, we have lost a ton of sheep to coyotes this year already. We have a very large working farm, so any pests we can not trap easily are taken care of, it's easier than my brothers and cousins having to go hunt them (had to do that a few years ago, not fun. There was a big raccoon infestation and we lost almost 100 birds and at least 15 rabbits).

[cat owner again]

Being a city (suburb) girl I can only imagine from your post the difference between a raccoon or possum that sneaks in now and then and what you are describing.