Raising Stuart!

Fresh out of Malaysia, I was not exposed to a lot of wild animal species that America had to offer. One of which was called a “Possum.” Now when I think of the word “possum” and link it to an animal, I think; of a furry ball of a softness that loves to cuddle with anything or anyone; a possum!

Walking down the road one day, my brother came across a dog barking at the bottom of a tree. He decided check if the dogs had any tags on it. As he walked towards the dog, he realized that the dog had discovered a baby possum curled up in the corner of the tree with its eyes shivering to open. My brother cradled it in an old shirt and brought it home. He burst through the doors saying “LOOK WHAT I FOUND!”

I had never seen anything like it. It was small and had its mouth wide-open ready to bite. My brother than said “we will keep it for two weeks till its eyes are opened and it’s ready to fend for itself.” It was for the best after all as we had no idea how to raise this creature called a possum.

Two weeks passed and our agreed time frame went right out the window! The little thing grew on us as he began to walk towards us wherever we went. We fed him milk with a silver spoon and the dogs slowly accepted him.

Every time it was cold outside, to make sure he was warm with his favorite clothes and just like the other dogs, he hated taking baths, getting his teeth brushed and the infamous nail-clipping.

Stuart began stealing the fruits from off table and had an intimate affair with barbeque sauce. He had blueberry yogurt for breakfast and soon was big enough to where he could snap a chicken bone in his mouth in half. His abnormal strength never scared us, as he was still our little Stuart. He grew big fast and started cuddling up with us to watch us watch TV. Many friends were shocked at our strange animal that we had nurtured for almost one and a half years, but eventually, everyone that met Start knew he was harmless and fell in love with him anyway.

Soon he was old enough to mate and started making strange clicking noises with his mouth. It sounded like someone smacking gum and he got moody sometimes. He refused to cuddle anymore and wanted to play in the yard more often.

One day he went missing from the yard. Everyone was worried. This was the first time in two years that Stuart had left. Had he ran away from home? We got worried but the next morning he came back. Every night we started noticing that he would leave at night and come home early morning for breakfast. We would let him in and he would go back to his crate and fall asleep for the day. This “#1 Player” has been working it with the lady possums at night we figured, since he was nocturnal.

Not only did we realize his strange night absence, we also started noticing that he would come back every day with a wound or scratches and one time a broken toe! We started getting worried and decided to try and keep him in till he got better but he would wait by the door at night wanting for someone to open it so that he could leave. We eventually let him out one night and came back in the morning with blood all over him and was limping terribly! I picked him up and burst into tears I could not fathom anyone hurting my possum. He looked tired and sick on this day and I could not help but be so worried about him. He went straight to sleep after drinking some water and wanted to be around my brother and I more. He would sit next to us more often and tried to sleep on the bed in an attempt to be around us. He was not active anymore and was sleeping more than often. We finally took him to the vet and x-rays revealed that he had a broken jaw. He’s wounds were also infected and he had a case of Gangrene. The vet had supposed that a coyote could have gotten to him that night.

I was in dance class when my brother called me and broke the news to me that the vet had suggested we put him to sleep. I excused myself from class and went home. After having Stuart for two and a half years, putting him to sleep was one of the most difficult things.

Stuart was just a possum but he also showed me that to never care what people thought about you. I mean, Stuart was a possum after all and yes people judged me for having one. I will never forget my Stuart and the joy he brought to our family.