The Opossum's Pouch Sanctuary, Rescue and Rehabilitation

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!

08/18/2025

We remodeled our farm house and had one room Bert wanted to put a pool table, he loves to play pool. Today in his pool table room.... he put up a 4.5X4.5X5 enclosure so I could fit Ely's wheel. Ely is the little boy born with no eyes and came to live with us. He had outgrown his smaller wheel and enclosure. He would set on the floor and walk the wheel with his front legs and it broke my heart. I found a wheel on the market place, had some Tractor Supply credit for the enclosure, so today was a big move for Ely! He's grown so much and going to be a big boy. This was 4PM, he took a quick nap on top of his cubby with the cow blanket and its almost 4am... he's still walking on his new wheel! There's nothing that makes me happier than to see these little ones loving life.

I'm married to a very patient and loving man. (I'd not be married to me! lol). We have a large number of opossums in our care and I could never do all I do without his help. As soon as I can afford to add on to the Sanctuary, I'll get him his pool table room back!

08/16/2025

I had to share this.... There's times my husband can leave me speechless in the most funny way. While cleaning everyone this am, we noticed one door ajar. The latch didn't catch. We found one of our more spicy residents sleeping in the bathroom trash can.

Bert's not afraid of any of the opossums we have but he says he respects the privacy of some more than others. I left him to watch her while I ran to get a blanket. I was headed back and he had a lid to my cook pot and was proudly walking out with his safely captured opossum. Its so hectic around here you have to grab your jollies where you can find them. LOL.

Tonight, my sister finds a baby opossum in her farm shed while trying to rescue a feral kitten who showed up. I walked over and after moving a lot of items my sister doesn't need, I caught the little one too young to be on its own. I can't say we've ever had a closer rescue or capture in the same 12 hours.

08/13/2025

The Pouch's little burn boy we posted about is so very scared and shy. We're treating his tail, feet and some skin areas for the burns. He peeped from his blanket, understanding there's goodies from the syringe. We're trying not to handle him too much, I'm sure he's sore. Its so nice in South Carolina that we are able to keep non-releaseables. This little guy will likely loose his toes on one foot, whiskers were burned off and his ears are starting to blister. He has a long way to go but having an appetite is the best sign ever!

08/11/2025

Facebook's waiting to see if this pic is stolen...lol. This little one was in a burn pile. Thank you Jennifer Moore for getting this little fellow safe and for the relay to meet me. He's lost part of his tail and little feet are burned with the back feet being the worst. Fur is singed on his lower body and some other burned areas like the tip of the ears. The Opossums Pouch will be home for this one due to toes on one foot will be lost. He did allow me to syringe feed formula and took all his meds. The vet has him on some pain meds and we've ordered some burn gel wraps for his little feet.

IMPORTANT, When limbs etc... are cut and piled, please burn immediately. If not they become homes for opossums, bunnies and other small mammals who find places like this a safe place to make a home.

08/08/2025

If anyone has a way of watermarking photos so the watermark can't be removed, please post here or PM me... People from other countries are removing The Pouch's name. Then posting my photo's and the story as their own. If they subscribe in some way via Facebook they make money off of the replies. I'm doing the work and they are making the money, go figure?

I will be adding The Pouch's name through out my wording so they can't use the post itself. I've filed a complaint via my attorney (who isn't charging me, thank goodness) with Facebook. I've also sent them dozens of pages doing this with my photos, other pet owners and rescues. Thanks for any insight on this!

Let them steal this one! lol. (enjoy)