They may not be “friendly” looking but their hissing is mostly just for show. When threatened, they mostly fall down and play dead. (Ever hear of “playing possum”?) They are actually very docile and quite harmless, and they eat ticks and venomous snakes along with slugs and dead things. They are like nature’s little clean up machines.

Opossums are highly unlikely to carry the rabies virus. They are not considered a common rabies vector species at all, which means they are extremely unlikely to give your pets rabies. The opossum's low body temperature makes them a poor host for the virus. Opossums are *not* bad tempered in general, but they can and will defend themselves. The ones with a brood-in-pouch need to eat nearly non-stop when they are awake and can get bold enough to saunter right into people's houses, so don't feed pets outdoors if you can avoid it, and lock pet doors at night. Opossums are actually a good neighbor species to have in your yard. They eat venomous snakes and insects, among other species humans tend not to like having around. So be kind to these marsupials, and discourage your pets from harassing them.

Actually YOU are more likely to have rabies than possums. Also, possums are quite peaceful and nice. If this was a raccoon or woodchuck, I'd be extremely worried, but this is okay.

Same here. We have a possum that comes around every night. Our outdoor cat and her neighbor buddy get along with the possum just fine. If they're not cornered, they'll take off if they feel threatened. Our neighborhood possum actually fell over "dead" the first time we met :) I startled it while taking out the trash, and BOOM! I felt so bad.

Maybe it's a stray/feral they feed? Or maybe they're on acreage and the cat also mouses for them... in other words, you have no freaking idea so don't be so rude.

That was my question as well.

After thinking about it for a bit, my conclusion is; This was set up, and done on purpose for publicity. WTF.

Possums eat ticks, keeping them from getting on your animals, so that really isn’t a consideration.

If the cat had been declawed (Which is a bad thing to do to a cat) it won't be able to defend itself against the possum

Not if you are actually taking care of them they don't.

Only if the owner is an idiot who let them outside.

Actually, the chance of a possum having rabies is extremely rare. And the possum killing the cat in under a minute is highly unlikely. By nature, possums are docile, non-aggressive animals and will not attack your pets. They prefer to avoid confrontations, which is why they "play possum." In case you want to question or argue these facts, you can educate yourself by going to the following website. https://www.abchomeandcommercial.com/blog/do-possums-carry-rabies/

QUICK ANSWER According to the Bi-State Wildlife Hotline, opossums do not typically carry rabies. It is quite rare for opossums to contract rabies because their body temperatures are too low for the infection to thrive. Possums drool when they are afraid, which is often mistaken for rabies symptoms.

LOL seriously? Oh jeeze, quit your whining. If the cat seriously thought it's life was in danger, it wouldn't have stayed on the porch. Humans are more of a threat to cats than possums. They don't even have to be rabid to kill them.