The Opossum's Pouch Sanctuary, Rescue and Rehabilitation

09/16/2025

This is Horace my rooster who is a handsome young man. Let me be very clear... "You have not lived" until you try to get a feed bag string (accidentally left behind) from around a roosters leg! That was 20 minutes of our lives I never want to re-live. 😜

09/13/2025

Two little siblings were in a mechanic's shop. No sign of mom and one of the little ones had what appeared to be a burned ear. He did allow me to clean it up and get some topical spray on it. Sadly babies this small will not make the 2.5-3 lbs mark to be released before colder weather so they'll have to be wintered over. Its not fair to put a baby out in the wild when the food supply is practically gone. Most opossums loose 1/3 of their body weight during cold winters.

09/10/2025

This is not the best photo, I was trying not to wake Buddy up. I didn't stress him with a bath but used some wet wipes and rubbed his feet with some coconut oil, they were so rough and cracked. Buddy has done nothing but eat and sleep.

09/09/2025

A very caring lady removed this old man from the wild last night. He was having trouble walking, fur missing and some bad teeth that need work. This poor guy has endured a hard life, he has the scars and battle wounds to prove it. He's underweight and all of his backbones were protruding.

Buddy, (the finder named him) ate several bowls of his supper and still had room for his yogurt where we had hidden his wormer and antibiotics. I wish I could explain how satisfying it was to see him crawl into his bed with several soft blankets and a full tummy! I checked in on him a bit ago and he was so deep asleep I had to closely check and make sure he was breathing!

09/07/2025

Little Benny is reclaiming his balance! At first he could not even set up. Then he'd take a few steps and fall over but day by day we see improvement from the head injury after being hit by a car. Benny is still not eating solid food so I mix up his formula with a bit of puree'd food and the specs you see in the bowl is the Missing Link. The "Missing Link" is small granules full of nutrition which is mixed in their food.

He has a bit of a left head tilt and makes a mess but this will also get better in time. Head injuries are so common in opossums that are hit by cars and it leaves them very simple minded and so sweet to work with. My goal in life was to provide a Sanctuary were they can live out their life safe and cared for. I currently have 14 with head trauma, they are a delight to work with and always happy. They love everybody! lol. Their care and dozens of other orphans, injured and misplaced can mount the daily cost. Electric, water, food, laundry, rescue gas, vet bills, treating all for fleas on intake etc... Any donation to help out is appreciated and please share.

09/04/2025

Pocono Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education Center is a wonderful place to land for any wild animal in need. Its always a pleasure to network with them. Each area endures struggles that may not apply in other locations... Bitter northern cold with frost bite, harsh humid marshy areas that harbor bacteria, dry climates that causes severe dehydration etc.... We all acquire knowledge from our experiences which is a gift. Gifts are meant to be shared. The story is below....

With great sadness we are sorry to announce that Melody passed away over night peacefully in her sleep.💔
We wanted to wait until her necropsy results came back to update everyone.
Someone on yesterday's thread had made mention of (Dermal Septic Necrosis) , after that brief correspondence I reached out to a couple of licensed rehabilitators locally who also never encountered this🤔 I then reached out to Beth ( owner/ founder of the Opossums Pouch ) who specializes in virginia opossums and has for many many years. She was an absolute wealth of information🥰 and information that not only isn't taught or discussed in Pennsylvania but information that many veterinarians aren't aware of either.
We don't see many cases of this in Pennsylvania because of the warmer climate. Fast forward to the necropsy results.
Melody was found to be riddled with malignant tumors😪inside of her tiny body and also had abscesses inside of her ear😪 she also DID absolutely have DSNwhich MAY have and absolutely could have resulted in her exterior lesions as well. DSM ( in a nutshell) is a systemic infection, meaning it affects the entire body, not just the skin and is caused by bacteria It is a serious, potentially fatal, body-wide infection in opossums caused by trauma or stress, leading to systemic bacterial infection, tissue death (necrosis), and a variety of outward symptoms like skin lesions, especially on the ears, and can affect organs such as the liver, kidneys, and heart. Early recognition, immediate antibiotic treatment, and proper monitoring are crucial to prevent severe complications and death.
Melody's case was INCREDIBLY advanced and one of the absolute worst that anyone has seen. Although we started aggressive antibiotics immediately too much damage had already been done.
The only lesion that was determined to NOT be DSN was the one found on the top of her nose. That was diagnosed as an actual burn. From what? We can suspect the worst or we can be grateful that Melody came to us to teach not only us but many other rehabilitators and veterinary professionals of this disease.
She died knowing unconditional love. She passed away free of pain and suffering and we did our very best as we always do.😢
She was likely suffering for a very long time and when an animal is in fight or flight they often cannot relax enough to transition . We are blessed that she felt safe enough to fall asleep last night and transition in the absolute most peaceful way possible.
You will always be remembered Melody 💖

08/31/2025

Some say to me, "it must be so much fun working so closely with all those animals and being able to love on them'', Well... lol. Lets look at reality and how much of our day is spent. I posted Ely's (who was born with no eyes) new set up with his wheel on the 18th. His area is cleaned daily and today he was an over-achiever! He's getting better at his potty training however this is the part of what all rehabbers do that takes up hours of our day. 😅

Today was one of the days where the wheel had to go out for a total cleaning, all washable pads as always are replaced, the floor mopped and his blankets changed in his sleep cubby. I have several large enclosures inside with 6 ,7 and one with 9 orphans. I'll let you imagine the clean up in those enclosures every morning! After the 3 hours of cage cleaning, we wash about 8 dozen meal bowls and start the first of 4-5 loads a day of laundry. If you get a rescue call and have to run out, the day really takes a down hill turn! My life may not be glorious but all these little ones are so worthy!

08/28/2025

The Pouch's little boy, Benny is briefly waking up and drinking from a syringe. We're on day 5.. There is no doubt he'll be staying with us here due to the head injuries. He reached out and put his little hands in mine, and I melted!

08/25/2025

Meet Dutton, the little kitten found outside. It appears he's only hesitant to trust people but not feral. We're keeping him in a big kennel until our adult cats hopefully make friends. Right now they're not impressed! lol. I've spoken to a few rescues and all are overwhelmed. I can't take a chance he may not get a home. So into the "fold" here at the Pouch he'll stay!

08/24/2025

Our youngsters eat several times a day, as most growing kids do. What goes in must come out and trust me our am and pm cleaning is now 3 times a day. I'm using newspaper underneath the pads of the "over-achievers", lol! Right now we average a box of 100 pads every day. Amazon basics are the cheapest I've found. If you can donate a box or two, not only is it needed but oh so appreciated!!!

Some can't open the link but its the Amazon Basics 22x22 pads for $18.08. I've had a lot of issues posting items from Amazon lately.

An Amazon Brand.

08/24/2025

I always dread this time of year during orphan season. The little juvenile opossums are attempting to learn how to survive and it ends badly for so many. This young boy didn't make it across the road and the girl who struck him was so devastated. She grabbed him and took good care until she could meet me to take him in.

He has slept now for over 36 hours and just starting to wake up. I've been cautiously hopeful. When they bleed from the ears it can be a tough recovery, so I'm so happy to see him more alert. He has no balance yet and he's still very out of it We've given the antibiotics and pain meds the vet prescribed for him. His wounds are all clean and he's allowed me to tube feed him. We will want to get Xrays once he's had time to rest. He's a spring baby with a hard start in life, but we'll make sure life will be better in the future.

08/21/2025

We're unsure where this kitten came from but leaving one to grow up feral and have unlimited kittens is not what I do. I've attempted for 3 nights to catch her. Finally at 4am, I heard the trap close and surprisingly she's not as fearful as I expected. She should be easy to tame. We already have 11 rescue adult cats. Soooo....

Its like the saying goes "Our pockets may stay empty but our hearts are always full".... thats what matters!