For your own edification...

[rootofnewt]

This post is a lesson for explodingcat, who apparently didn't learn this kind of stuff in suburban schools.

This is a cat.
This is not.

The cat has a furry tail or no tail.
This is not a furry tail.

A cat has furry paws and likes to brush against things.
This has little pink hands and likes to dig between deckboards.

The cat has a compact face and jumps gracefully.
This has a narrow nose and has to scrabble and heave itself up onto the deck.

Now, I love you lots, explodingcat, but when one sees an opossum, one does not usually squeal delightedly: "OOOOH! BIG CUTE RAT!"

Yes. Your "pet" opossum is adorable and beady-eyed. I know you want me to install a bar so you can see it hang upside down by its tail. However, the opossum is a wild animal with sharper teeth than your feral cat.

Comments

[chorus-of-chaos.livejournal.com]

but....I see possums and squeal "OOOH BIG CUTE RAT!" too.....We had one camp out in our trash can one time.

[red-frog.livejournal.com]

We got a baby opossum in the house one time. I'm not sure how it got in--perhaps one of the cats brought it in through the back window--but while hanging out in the living room one summer evening we realized that the thing that had just ran across the floor in a distinctly un-catlike way was not, in fact, Nikita pretending to be a ferret.

One box, broom, and terrified opossum baby later we released it into the woods. I'm just glad that we got Baby, not Mommy. An adult would not have been fun to evict.

[elnigma.livejournal.com]

Awwww! loved the pictures. The other day I was driving and slowed to be sure a live, black short legged "kitty" with two white front paws and a white stripe walking around the side of the road wasn't going to run in front of my car. I'd driven past a few minutes before figuring out Uh duh.. that was a skunk.. ehehe

[stmaybe.livejournal.com]

now i know why grover is so tired all the time!!! & getting fatter despite being put on a diet by the vet.

he's been running up to virginia to visit you & boy, so you can feed him another dinner :)

[ismene.livejournal.com]

Awww. It /is/ a big cute rat! At least it's not hissing at you and threatening to give you rabies, which is what the last opossum I saw did. It was not happy to be in that trap.

[mmymoon.livejournal.com]

BIG CUTE RAT!!!!!!

[ashbet]

LMAO!!! :D

-- Andi, who coincidentally was surfing old posts earlier and came across one of me being surprised to have seen a LIVE opossum . . . ;)

hey

[tannhaus.livejournal.com]

I think he's adorable